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Democrats pick up two U.S House seats in Michigan
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Two Democratic challengers have ousted Michigan Republican congressmen in the Nov. 4 election, with Gary Peters defeating Joe Knollenberg in the 9th District and Mark Schauer beating Tim Walberg in the 7th District.
The two Democratic pick-ups change the partisan balance in the Michigan congressional delegation from 9-6 Republican to 8-7 Democratic. Both Knollenberg and Walberg had been targeted by Democrats after narrowly winning in 2006 against underfunded opponents. Peters and Schauer were considered stronger candidates than the 2006 challengers and both ran well-funded campaigns, accusing the incumbents of being too conservative for their districts.
The 9th District, in the northern Detroit suburbs of Oakland County, had been traditionally Republican, but has been trending Democratic in recent years, although Knollenberg had won by comfortable margins from his first election in 1992 until 2004. Peters, a former state senator and lottery commissioner, also benefited from John McCain's withdrawal from Michigan more than a month before the election, the Detroit area's severe economic problems, and Barack Obama's strength in Oakland County.
Peters received 184,098 votes, 52 percent, compared to 150,574 for Knollenberg, 42.6 percent. Also in the race were physician assisted suicide advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian, an independent, who received 9,047 votes, Libertarian Adam Goodman, who totaled 4,937, and Douglas Campbell of the Green Party, with 4,800.
The 7th District, in south central Michigan, was also traditionally Republican with a Democratic trend. Walberg won the seat in 2006 after ousting moderate incumbent Joe Schwarz in the Republican primary. By so doing, he apparently alienated many moderate voters, resulting in his narrow win that year. For the 2008 election, Schwarz endorsed Schauer, who has been state Senate minority leader.
Schauer received 157,189 votes, 48.8 percent, compared to 149,766 for Walberg, 46.5 percent. Green Party candidate Lynn Meadows received 9,529 votes, while Libertarian Ken Proctor had 5,673 votes. Schauer carried his home town of Battle Creek, along with Jackson, western Lansing suburbs in Eaton County, and the district's portion of Washtenaw County west of Ann Arbor. Walberg carried the district's small town and rural areas in Lenawee, Hillsdale and Branch counties.
The races produced Michigan's two most expensive congressional campaigns. Peters raised $2.1 million, with outside Democratic groups adding another $2 million. Knollenberg raised $3.2 million, with $650,000 from outside Republican groups. Schauer raised $2 million, with outside Democratic groups adding in another $2.1 million, while Walberg raised $1.7 million, aided by $1.8 million from outside Republican groups.
Much of this money was spent on TV ads, with Knollenberg's growing steadily more negative as he fell behind Peters in the polls.
