LANSING, Michigan — Michigan voters on Tuesday will decide in which Republican and Democratic candidates will battle it out in November for the coveted open state Senate seat, in addition to some of the nation’s most competitive House races.
Many Democrats have rallied around U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin in the Senate race, while Republicans have rallied behind former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, who received an endorsement from Donald Trump earlier this year. Both candidates are vying for a seat left open by the retirement of longtime Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, but they must first defeat underdog challengers on tuesday.
Slotkin is running against actor Hill Harper, while Republicans will choose between Rogers, former U.S. Rep. Justin Amash and physician Sherry O’Donnell. Although businessman Sandy Pensler failed and approved Rogers at a rally with Trump on July 20, his name will still be on the ballot because of his late withdrawal.
With Democrats holding a razor-thin majority in the Senate and Republicans in the House, competitive races like Michigan’s draw a lot of attention. The state’s status as a key presidential swing state further raises the stakes for those seats, with party control at stake from the top of the ballot all the way up 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 primary for Congress, candidates have a short window to transition from competing against their own party members to appealing to a broader base of voters ahead of the Nov. 5 general election, which may explain why Slotkin and Rogers have campaigned with their eyes on the general election.
National groups on both sides have already set aside millions for post-primary advertising. Both Slotkin and Rogers, seen for months as overwhelming favorites in their respective primaries, have skipped debates and refrained from holding major campaign events.
Several seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, where primaries are taking place on Tuesday, could influence the balance of power in the House of Representatives, but the biggest battles there will also be fought in the fall campaign.
Slotkin’s entry into the Senate race has her mid michigan 7th The open seat in the Congressional District, historically one of the nation’s most critical battlegrounds, sees both party candidates run unopposed in their 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 the retirement of U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee. The Democratic congressman has supported the state Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet to take his place, but the chairman of the State Council of Education Pamela Pugh and Matt Collier, the former mayor of Flint, are also vying for their party’s nomination.
On the Republican side, former TV host Paul Junge is making a new run 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 incumbent politicians in crucial seats are waiting to see who they will face in November.
Congresswoman 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. in the western Michigan district.
National Democrats are also hoping to pick up a district just north of Detroit that is currently held by new GOP Rep. John James. Carl Marlinga, a Macomb County prosecutor who lost to James by 1,600 votes in 2022, is running against Emily Busch, Tiffany Tilley and Diane Young in the Democratic primary.
In a heavily Democratic district that includes downtown Detroit, U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar faces a challenge from Detroit City Councilmember Mary Waters. approved by mayor Mike Duggan. Thanedar has significantly outraised her and is favored to win the Democratic nomination, which would likely leave Detroit — a city that is nearly 80% black. without black representation for a second consecutive term in Congress.
Primary elections for lower-tier ballots are being held across the state on Tuesday. Control of the state House of Representatives is at stake in November, with all 110 seats up for election. Democrats took control of both chambers and the governor’s office for the first time in four decades in 2022 and will be looking to defend those majorities.
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Associated Press editor Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Mich., contributed to this report.