Although the Republican Majority in the House
of Representatives was not as significant as it was in the Senate heading into
Tuesday night, most political observers viewed the likely results similarly.
They thought Republicans would retain their majority, and Democrats would pick up
a seat or two and narrow the margin a bit. This was not the case as the
Republicans not only successfully defended all of their returning seats, but
defeated two incumbent Democratic members and flipped two open seats previously
held by Democrats – all on their way to growing their majority from 59-51 to a
new margin in January of 63-47.
Two incumbent Democratic State
Representatives were defeated by Republican challengers in swing seats Tuesday
night.
First, State Representative Theresa Abed
(D-Grand Ledge), the first Democrat to hold the 71st House District
seat in 50 years, was defeated by Republican challenger Tom Barrett of
Potterville, by some 310 votes. In the 91st House District, former
State Representative Holly Hughes was successful in taking her seat back from
the woman who beat her, Representative Collene Lamonte (D-Montague) by an
estimated 58 votes.
The two open seats formerly held by Democrats
that went the GOP way were the 84th and the 62nd.
As expected the 84th House seat
was won by Republican Ed Canfield of Sebewaing by a large margin.
Representative-elect Canfield took 59 percent of the vote to Democrat David
Jaroch’s 41 percent in the race to replace term-limited Representative Terry
Brown (D-Pigeon), whose popularity helped him hold the seat despite the strong
Republican base.
In the 62nd House seat where
term-limited Representative Kate Segal (D-Battle Creek) could not seek
re-election, Republican John Bizon took 51 percent of the vote to defeat
Democratic candidate Andy Helmboldt.
In other races where Democrats had hoped to
chip away at the GOP majority:
- Incumbent Representative Pat Somerville (R-New Boston) defeated Democrat David Haener in the 23rd House District.
- Incumbent Representative Klint Kesto (R-Commerce Township) narrowly defeated Democrat Sandy Colvin of West Bloomfield in the 39th House District.
- Incumbent Representative Martin Howrylak (R-Troy) held off Democratic challenger Mary Kerwin, also of Troy, to win another two years representing the 41st House District.
There were also several open seats previously
held by now term-limited Republicans where Democrats were hoping to play – all
of which went to the GOP candidates, adding to the 63-member total. These
include:
- Republican candidate Jim Tedder’s (Clarkston) victory over Democrat Dennis Ritter in the 43rd House District held by term-limited Representative Gail Haines (R-Waterford)
- Republican candidate Jason Sheppard’s (Temperance) victory over Democrat Tom Redmond in the 56th House District held by term-limited Representative Dale Zorn (R-Ida)
- Republican candidate Brandt Iden’s (Oshtemo) victory over Democrat John Fisher in the 61st House District held by term-limited Representative Margaret O’Brien (R-Portage)
- Republican candidate Larry Inman’s (Williamsburg) victory over Democrat Betsy Coffia in the 104th District held by term-limited Representative Wayne Schmidt (R-Traverse City)
- Republican candidate Gary Glenn’s (Midland) victory over Democrat Joan Brausch in the 98th District held by term-limited Representative Jim Stamas (R-Midland)