LaFave Wins With 59.78% In LaFave-Prestin U.P. Matchup, New 363-Person Poll Shows

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 12/01/2025) Polling of the 38th Senate district in the Upper Peninsula shows former Rep. Beau LaFave, the Iron Mountain conservative, defeating Rep. Dave Prestin (R-Cedar River) in a head-to-head matchup with 59.78 percent of the vote.

The polling was conducted via phone calls by Winning Strategies, the general political consulting firm run by Flushing-based consultant David Forsmark. It asked 363 "likely, regular Republican primary voters" on Nov. 25 who they would vote for between the two.

In the 2024 presidential election, 87,600 voters in the 38th Senate district turned out to vote for President Donald Trump. But the press release on Monday’s polling notes that the 363-respondent sample size within one state Senate district is statistically significant, "given that statewide polls often utilize 500-700 total responses."

The numbers provided to MIRS Monday evening showed LaFave backed by 217 respondents, and Prestin by 146 (or 40.22 percent).

"Nobody wants to pay attention to politics in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I'm going to keep trying anyway," LaFave said to MIRS, explaining he's been visiting a lot of county Republican Party meetings, informed U.P. precinct delegates of his campaign and plans to begin door-knocking in January.

In the Republican primary race to replace term-limited Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah Twp.) is LaFave, Prestin, Chris Reynolds – a high school football coach in Delta County – and Kayla Wikstrom, who tried running in Prestin's House seat last year as a Libertarian, losing with 2.2 percent of the vote.

Prestin is being notably backed by the state Legislature's current U.P. delegation of lawmakers, McBroom and Reps. Karl Bohnak (R-Negaunee) and Greg Markkanen (R-Hancock). LaFave recently worked as Markkanen's chief of staff.

Insider gossip suggests that Prestin has been preferred by some to protect Bohnak in his competitive 109th Marquette-based House district. They argue that LaFave's candidness and conservative reputation could turn off moderate ticket-splitters in Marquette – the U.P.'s most populated city – from supporting Bohnak down the ballot.

LaFave explained that the legislators gave him a heads-up a few days before announcing their endorsements.

"At first I was shocked and a little bit hurt, but apparently friendships don't really mean anything in this game. But that's four voters out of the 300,000 and there's 299,996 other ones to go get," LaFave said. "(Endorsements) might help if you have two completely unknown candidates. The fact of the matter is that I have the highest name ID in the Upper Peninsula of any sitting, any (living) current or former representative."

LaFave, a 33-year-old, served in the state House from 2017 through 2022. He also studied international relations and political economy at Michigan State University. He also earned his law degree from Wayne State University this year. LaFave is now practicing criminal law in Dickinson County.

He also tried running for Secretary of State at a spring Michigan Republican Party-run endorsement convention in 2022.

When asked if he still has a residence in the Lansing area, he said his house in the Capitol city has an accepted offer for sale.

"I bought that house when I first was elected in 2017, and it really did serve me well for my time in the Legislature as a temporary residence, and then helping me with a place to put my head down when I was going to law school," he said. "But I never really considered it my home."