Elections

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) is leaning into her self-described “geek” persona in the final week of a primary in which she trails Abdul El-Sayed by double digits.

Pete Buttigieg said Democrats competing in primaries must do more than denounce Republicans or attack factions within their own party. Instead, they should offer voters an affirmative vision, pointing to Michigan’s “very spirited” primary and the limited time Democrats will have to reunite afterward.

Mike Duggan's independent campaign for governor had little trouble finding people willing to write large checks. The problem was finding enough people willing to write checks at all.

In Democrats' final U.S. Senate debate before the Aug. 4 primary, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) and Abdul El-Sayed accused each other of answering to outside forces. Stevens tried linking celebrity ambitions and progressive influencers to El-Sayed. He tagged her with benefiting from large corporations and American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) dollars.

As of this afternoon, 18,953 absentee ballots have been spoiled for the August primary election. The Secretary of State's office notes that they're not all tied to the several candidates who've suspended their campaigns, as "people spoil for a bunch of reasons."

Republican gubernatorial candidate Perry Johnson has personally donated all but $125 to his $30 million campaign, according to a state filing released this afternoon.

Two organizations with ties to Consumers Energy have spent nearly $290,000 on advertising targeting Rep. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers) in the Republican primary for Michigan’s 36th House District.

Republican gubernatorial candidate John James has made at least two requests for public funding worth a combined $387,000, according to Bureau of Elections filings released this week.

With two weeks left before the Aug. 4 primary, nearly 40% of expected voters have already filled out a ballot, including some still in the mail or received but not processed yet by local clerks, projected Mark Grebner of Practical Political Data Tuesday afternoon.

Michigan's contentious U.S. Senate primary is, as of today, the second-most expensive Democratic senatorial race in U.S. history and is now $6 million away from being No. 1 with two weeks to go before the Aug. 4 primary, according to research conducted by AdImpact.

The Secretary of State is showing that nine people filed petitions to get on the ballot to run as independents before the 4 p.m. deadline Thursday, including some established political names.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike COX is suing Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who also is running for governor, seeking the release of public records about her involvement with the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Former State Rep. Sara Cambensy turned in 2,349 signatures to the Richard H. Austin building Thursday in Lansing to be able to appear on the Nov. 3 ballot as an independent in the Michigan 38th Senate District.

Abdul El-Sayed raised nearly $4.6 million in the second quarter of the year, which sneaks up on the combined $4.8 million raised between U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) and now-suspended candidate State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak), and the nearly $4 million between the three Mike Rogers accounts.

The former Michigan Conservative Union president, running for term-limited Sen. Rick Outman (R-Six Lakes)'s seat, claims a state police secretary tried to intimidate homeowners into removing his campaign signs.

Opponents of the campaign finance ballot initiative backed by Michiganders for Money Out of Politics (MMOP) claim its petitions include forged signatures, duplicate signatures and even the names of people who were already dead when they supposedly signed.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) told Detroit, East Lansing and Lansing that election monitors will be sent to their cities for the August primary, which top state leaders say is based on numerous unsubstantiated claims.

U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) and Abdul El-Sayed debated at the WOOD TV 8 studio where it turned into a verbal brawl, but both U.S. Senate candidates refused to address the schism in the party.

Oakland County Judge Michael Warren perhaps made political history Tuesday, earning both the Libertarian and Republican parties’ nomination for the Michigan Supreme Court (MSC).

As Anthony Hudson enters the gubernatorial race this week as the Libertarian Party nominee, MIRS reviewed every Michigan governor's race since statehood to see what impact third-party candidates have had.