Daily Archives: April 25, 2018

2018 Michigan State Senate Elections

Cross-posted at The Western RightRight Michigan, and RRH Elections.

All 38 seats in the Michigan Senate are up for election in 2014.  Republicans currently have a 27-11 supermajority, and have controlled the senate since 1983.  Republican control of the state senate has prevented democrats from complete control of Michigan’s government in some years, and stopped a lot of bad things from being passed.

Fortunately for Republicans, the Michigan state senate is up only in midterms, which usually favor Republicans much more than presidential years.  Republicans had a good year in 2014, picking up one state senate seat, following four pickups in 2010.

The 2010 redistricting produced a map that was moderately pro-Republican, while complying with all relevant laws.

Michigan Redistricting: Official Republican State Senate Map Released
Michigan Redistricting: Republican State Senate Map Passed

There are 26 open seats due to term-limits, 7 D and 19 R.  All current state senators are former state representatives except three (Colbeck, Conyers, Hertel).  This pattern held in the past, and most credible candidates this time are current or former state reps.

For the past few years, the state senate has been more moderate than the state house.  This cycle, there are several ideologically split Republican primaries that will determine how conservative the state senate will be next year. These will be in districts 12, 21, 24, 26, 30, 31, 34, and 35.

I have included election data for the 2014 state senate election, and McCain (2008), Romney (2012), and Trump (2016) results in each district.  More data is available from Republican Michigander and RRH Elections.

Republican Michigander district profiles (see sidebar)
RRH Michigan Senate Data File
Michigan State Senate 2018 Preview (all up in 2018)

The McCain numbers look terrible for Republicans because he collapsed after publicly pulling out of Michigan.  The largest McCain percentage in any Michigan state senate district won by a democrat in the past twelve years is 46.2% in (old) district 31.

Here is a breakdown of the individual races.  State reps years in office are listed after their names, with P meaning present.

2018 Candidate List (Michigan Secretary of State)

You Betcha! (1)Nuh Uh.(0)

Cultural Equivalence?

Are we too afraid to ask the obvious?

What if you have an opinion that institutionalized misogyny is maybe not such a great thing?  Does even the question make you a bigot?

What if the centerpiece of my ‘religion’ was not a resurrected son-of-God who died in excruciating pain for all of our hatred, shame, and imperfections manifested in misdeeds.  But instead a warlord who to achieve power, subjugated other men, women, children, all in the name of (presumably) the same God.

What if that latter ‘religion’ was not one of proselytizing through love but through violent means, extortion, blackmail, lies and subterfuge.  What if it called for honor killings, female mutilation, death for apostasy, ransom, and purposeful deceit to advance it’s growth.

What if you do not have the intellectual ability to recognize a difference between spiritually uplifting beliefs, and those that foment acts of cowardice and terror quite literally DAILY.

Are these not legitimate questions?

Sadly we have those who in their political aspirations are too fearful to ask them.  The few who do, become targets of the purposefully stupid or intellectually dishonest in media, and are quickly branded as bigots and intolerant.

Go figure.

You Betcha! (13)Nuh Uh.(0)