LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan voters in Tuesday will decide which Republican and Democratic candidates will compete in November for the highly coveted U.S. Senate seat, plus several of the country’s most competitive races for the U.S. House.
Many Democrats rallied behind U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin in the Senate race, while Republicans rallied behind former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, who received the endorsement of donald trump earlier this year. Both candidates are vying for a seat left open by the retirement of Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow, but are expected to first defeat underdog challengers on Tuesday.
Slotkin faces actor Hill Harper, while Republicans will choose between Rogers, former U.S. Rep. Justin Amash and doctor Sherry O’Donnell. Although businessman Sandy Pensler withdrew and endorsed Rogers at a July 20 rally with Trump, his name will still appear on the ballot due to his late withdrawal.
With Democrats holding a slim majority in the Senate and Republicans in the House, competitive races like Michigan’s are attracting a lot of attention. The state’s status as a key presidential state further raises the stakes for these seats, with party control at stake from the top of the ballot all the way to the state Legislature.
Michigan’s open Senate seat is one of a handful of races nationwide that will determine control of the upper chamber in November. With a later congressional primary, candidates will have a short period to transition from competing against members of their own party to appealing to a broader base of voters for the Nov. 5 general election, which may explain why Slotkin and Rogers campaigned with their eyes on the general election.
National groups on both sides have already set aside millions for advertising after the primaries. Both Slotkin and Rogers, seen for months as the heavy favorites in their primaries, skipped the debates and refrained from holding major campaign events.
Several U.S. House seats with primaries on Tuesday could tip the balance of power in the lower chamber, but there, too, the biggest battles will be fought in the fall campaign.
Slotkin’s entry into the Senate race left her 7th in mid-Michigan The headquarters of the Congressional District, historically one of the main battleground districts in the country, opens. Candidates from both parties are running unopposed in the primaries, setting the stage for a November showdown between Democrat Curtis Hertel Jr. and Republican Tom Barrett.
The 8th Congressional District is also an open race with U.S. Representative. Dan Kildeeretirement. Democratic congressman endorsed the state Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet to take his place, but the president of the State Education Council Pamela Pugh and Matt Collier, former mayor of Flint, are also vying for the party’s nomination.
On the Republican side, former TV anchor Paul Junge is making another bid after losing to Kildee by more than 10 percentage points last year. Joining him in the race are Mary Draves, a former chemical manufacturing executive at Dow Inc., and Anthony Hudson.
Meanwhile, several incumbents in battleground positions wait to see who they will face in November.
U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, who in 2022 became the first Democrat to represent Grand Rapids in decades, is awaiting the outcome of the Republican primary between attorney Paul Hudson and businessman Michael Markey Jr.
National Democrats also hope to flip a district north of Detroit currently held by freshman Republican Rep. John James. Carl Marlinga, a former Macomb County prosecutor who lost to James in 2022 by 1,600 votes, faces Emily Busch, Tiffany Tilley and Diane Young in the Democratic primary.
In a heavily Democratic district encompassing downtown Detroit, U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar faces a challenge from Detroit City Council member Mary Waters, who is approved by the mayor Mike Dugan. Thanedar significantly outperformed her and is favored to win the Democratic nomination, which would likely leave Detroit – a city that is nearly 80% black – no black representation in Congress for the second consecutive term.
Election races are holding statewide primaries on Tuesday. Control of the state House of Representatives will be at stake in November, with all 110 seats up for grabs. Democrats took control of both chambers and the governor’s office for the first time in four decades in 2022 and will try to defend those majorities.
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Associated Press writer Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report.
