Michigan 2016 elections Presidential • U.S. House • State House • State judges • Local judges • State ballot measures • School boards • Recalls • Candidate ballot access

2016 Michigan House Elections
Primary	August 2, 2016
General	November 8, 2016

All 110 seats in the Michigan House of Representatives were up for election in 2016. No changes occurred to the partisan balance of the chamber.^[1]

A Ballotpedia analysis identified the Michigan State House as one of 20 battleground chambers in the November 2016 election. These were the chambers where one party might have, realistically, toppled the other party from its position of majority control. The Republican Legislative Campaign Committee (RLCC) identified the chamber as a defensive target, as Republicans looked to maintain their 16-seat majority.

This election was one of Ballotpedia's top 10 state-level races in 2016.
Click here to read the full list.

Introduction[edit]

Elections for the Michigan House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election was held on August 2, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was April 19, 2016.

Context[edit]

Ahead of the 2020 census, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) targeted the state for redistricting purposes. The DLCC set the goal of raising $20 million for 2016 state legislative races. Following the 2010 election, when Republicans gained control of the governor's office and the House, Michigan's congressional boundaries were redrawn by the legislature; though Republicans did not gain seats in 2012, Democrats lost one seat in the state's congressional delegation.

In 2014, six districts were considered competitive or mildly competitive. That year, Republicans gained four seats.

Majority control[edit]

See also: Partisan composition of state houses

Heading into the election, the Republican Party held the majority in the Michigan House of Representatives:

Retired incumbents[edit]

Forty incumbent representatives did not run for re-election in 2016. Those incumbents were:

Name	Party	Current Office
Alberta Tinsley-Talabi	Democratic	House District 2
Harvey Santana	Democratic	House District 9
Paul Clemente	Democratic	House District 14
George Darany	Democratic	House District 15
Sarah Roberts	Democratic	House District 18
Kurt Heise	Republican	House District 20
Pat Somerville	Republican	House District 23
Anthony Forlini	Republican	House District 24
Jim Townsend	Democratic	House District 26
Jeff Farrington	Republican	House District 30
Marilyn Lane	Democratic	House District 31
Andrea LaFontaine	Republican	House District 32
Ken Goike	Republican	House District 33
Bradford Jacobsen	Republican	House District 46
Charles Smiley	Democratic	House District 50
Gretchen Driskell	Democratic	House District 52
Jeff Irwin	Democratic	House District 53
David Rutledge	Democratic	House District 54
Nancy Jenkins	Republican	House District 57
Earl Poleski	Republican	House District 64
Aric Nesbitt	Republican	House District 66
Rick Outman	Republican	House District 70
Ken Yonker	Republican	House District 72
Tom Hooker	Republican	House District 77
Al Pscholka	Republican	House District 79
Paul Muxlow	Republican	House District 83
Ben Glardon	Republican	House District 85
Lisa Posthumus Lyons	Republican	House District 86
Mike Callton	Republican	House District 87
Amanda Price	Republican	House District 89
Marcia Hovey-Wright	Democratic	House District 92
Charles Brunner	Democratic	House District 96
Joel Johnson	Republican	House District 97
Kevin Cotter	Republican	House District 99
Jon Bumstead	Republican	House District 100
Ray Franz	Republican	House District 101
Phil Potvin	Republican	House District 102
Bruce Rendon	Republican	House District 103
Peter Pettalia	Republican	House District 106
Ed McBroom	Republican	House District 108

Note: District 11, District 28, and District 106 were vacant at the time of the 2016 general election. The seats were previously held by Julie Plawecki (D), Derek Miller (D), and Peter Pettalia (R).

2016 election competitiveness[edit]

Michigan saw improvement in electoral competitiveness.

Ballotpedia conducts a yearly study of electoral competitiveness in state legislative elections. Details on how well Michigan performed in the study are provided in the image below. Click here for the full 2016 Competitiveness Analysis »

• In the House, there were 47 Democratic incumbents and 63 Republican incumbents. Fourteen state representatives faced primary opposition in the Democratic Party. There were nine primary challenges in the Republican primary.

• Overall, 18.6 percent of Democratic incumbents and 21.4 percent of GOP incumbents faced primary opposition in all of the state legislatures with elections in 2016.

• The cumulative figure for how many state legislative candidates faced no major party opposition in November in these states was 41.8 percent. This compares to 32.7 percent in 2010, 38.3 percent in 2012, and 43.0 percent in 2014.

• More details on electoral competitiveness in Michigan can be found below.

Races we watched[edit]

Ballotpedia identified four notable Michigan state legislative races in 2016, all four of which were state House contests.

Click here to read more about Ballotpedia's coverage of notable Michigan races »

General election contests[edit]

State House District 71

A Democratic candidate challenged the Republican incumbent in a swing district.

☑ Tom Barrett (Inc.)      ☐ Theresa Abed

State House District 91

A Democratic candidate challenged the Republican incumbent in a swing district.

☑ Holly Hughes (Inc.)      ☐ Collene Lamonte

List of candidates[edit]

General election[edit]

2016 Michigan House general election candidates
District	Democrat	Republican	Other
1	Brian Banks: 24,947 (I) a	William Broman: 11,558
2	Bettie Cook Scott: 25,409 a	Anthony Murray: 9,962
3	Wendell Byrd: 28,766 (I) a	John Brodersen: 955
4	Rose Mary Robinson: 24,970 (I) a	Matt Schonert: 1,397	Dan Finn: 796 (G)
5	Fred Durhal III: 17,832 (I) a	Dorothy Patterson: 1,444
6	Stephanie Chang: 26,301 (I) a	Attie Pollard: 2,125
7	LaTanya Garrett: 32,896 (I) a	Gina Barr: 806
8	Sherry Gay-Dagnogo: 33,270 (I) a	Jennifer Rynicki: 1,470
9	Sylvia Santana: 27,560 a	James Stephens: 1,668
10	Leslie Love: 32,787 (I) a	William Brang: 6,027	Jeremy Morgan: 1,357 (L)
11	Jewell Jones: 23,721 a	Robert Pope: 12,749
12	Erika Geiss: 24,716 (I) a	Erik Soderquist: 12,112
13	Frank Liberati: 23,744 (I) a	Annie Spencer: 15,336
14	Cara Clemente: 20,252 a	Darrell Stasik: 12,178	Loel Gnadt: 1,639 (L)
15	Abdullah Hammoud: 21,739 a	Terrance Guido Gerin: 13,452
16	Robert Kosowski: 24,147 (I) a	Matthew Morrow: 13,599
17	Bill LaVoy: 17,151 (I)	Joseph Bellino: 20,232 a	Jeff Andring: 1,355 (U.S. Taxpayers)
18	Kevin Hertel: 29,247 a	Renata Polonaise: 16,953
19	Steve King: 19,504	Laura Cox: 31,045 (I) a
20	Colleen Pobur: 23,768	Jeff Noble: 27,440 a
21	Kristy Pagan: 28,260 (I) a	Derek Moss: 19,292
22	John Chirkun: 21,487 (I) a	Jeff Bonnell: 12,341	Les Townsend: 1,780 (U.S. Taxpayers)
23	Darrin Camilleri: 24,100 a	Bob Howey: 23,777
24	Dana Camphous-Peterson: 19,553	Steve Marino: 23,968 a
25	Henry Yanez: 21,899 (I) a	Steve Naumovski: 18,573
26	Jim Ellison: 26,785 a	Randy LeVasseur: 18,333
27	Robert Wittenberg: 36,392 (I) a	Kyle Forrest: 11,007
28	Patrick Green: 22,680 a	Antoine M. Davison: 11,381
29	Tim Greimel: 23,097 (I) a	Garren Griffith: 8,253	Artelia Marie Leak: 1,068 (G)
30	Michael Notte: 17,026	Diana Farrington: 19,863 a
31	William Sowerby: 22,735 a	Lisa Valerio-Nowc: 15,743	Michael Saliba: 2,007 (L)
32	Paul Manley: 14,631	Pamela Hornberger: 25,629 a
33	Yani Warda: 12,987	Jeff Yaroch: 30,295 a
34	Sheldon Neeley: 24,248 (I) a	Page Brousseau: 3,136
35	Jeremy Moss: 44,737 (I) a	Robert Brim: 8,639
36	Diane Young: 13,048	Peter Lucido: 33,293 (I) a
37	Christine Greig: 29,181 (I) a	Mitch Swoboda: 17,209	James Young: 1,743 (L)
38	Amy McCusker: 20,711	Kathy Crawford: 28,205 (I) a
39	Michael Stack: 20,975	Klint Kesto: 25,024 (I) a	Beth McGrath: 3,643 (Unaffiliated)
40	Nicole Bedi: 26,669	Michael McCready: 30,664 (I) a
41	Cyndi Peltonen: 20,606	Martin Howrylak: 26,708 (I) a
42	Timothy Johnson: 17,309	Lana Theis: 34,015 (I) a	Jon Elgas: 2,167 (L)
43	Ted Villella: 16,309	Jim Tedder: 30,923 (I) a
44	Mark Venie: 15,470	Jim Runestad: 33,731 (I) a
45	Ted Golden: 17,792	Michael Webber: 29,121 (I) a
46	David Lillis: 14,642	John Reilly: 33,073 a
47	Keith Van Houten: 12,918	Henry Vaupel: 32,616 (I) a	Rodger Young: 2,314 (L)
48	Pam Faris: 22,888 (I) a	Joseph Reno: 19,641
49	Phil Phelps: 24,862 (I) a	Jeremy Baker: 11,458
50	Tim Sneller: 22,773 a	Michael Matheny: 20,992
51	Ryan Bladzik: 17,050	Joseph Graves: 30,468 (I) a	Mark Sanborn: 2,677 (L)
52	Donna Lasinski: 27,620 a	Randy Clark: 23,535	Eric Borregard: 1,519 (G)
53	Yousef Rabhi: 35,502 a	Samuel Bissell: 7,176	Joseph Stevens: 1,476 (G)
54	Ronnie Peterson: 30,148 a	Kevin Jardine: 10,053
55	Adam Zemke: 30,097 (I) a	Bob Baird: 13,312
56	Tom Redmond: 16,316	Jason Sheppard: 24,509 (I) a	R. Al Bain: 1,179 (U.S. Taxpayers)
57	Harvey Schmidt: 18,332	Bronna Kahle: 23,698 a
58	Mary Hamaty: 8,968	Eric Leutheuser: 27,444 (I) a
59	Carol Higgins: 12,117	Aaron Miller: 24,342 (I) a
60	Jon Hoadley: 26,570 (I) a	Alexander Ross: 9,595	Logan Fleckenstein: 2,170 (L)
61	John Fisher: 22,755	Brandt Iden: 25,149 (I) a	Ryan Winfield: 3,018 (L)
62	Jim Haadsma: 17,490	John Bizon: 17,699 (I) a	Shelly Gregoire: 1,660 (L)
63	Lynn Shiflea: 14,749	David Maturen: 26,878 (I) a	John Anthony La Pietra: 2,523 (G)
64	Ron Brooks: 13,443	Julie Alexander: 22,426 a
65	Bonnie Johnson: 14,321	Brett Roberts: 25,098 (I) a	Ronald Muszynski: 2,055 (L)
66	Annie Brown: 18,568	Beth Griffin: 22,024 a
67	Tom Cochran: 24,929 (I) a	Leon Clark: 20,698
68	Andy Schor: 28,373 (I) a	Randy Pilon: 8,365	Rob Powell: 2,132 (L)
69	Sam Singh: 29,366 (I) a	George Nastas: 13,585
70	Ken Hart: 10,625	James Lower: 21,001 a	Michael Anderson: 1,584 (G)
71	Theresa Abed: 20,926	Tom Barrett: 26,315 (I) a	Marc Lord: 1,450 (L)
72	Steve Shoemaker: 18,693	Steven Johnson: 26,343 a
73	Deb Havens: 17,855	Chris Afendoulis: 35,216 (I) a	Ron Heeren: 2,165 (L)
74	Robin Bigger: 13,915	Rob VerHeulen: 29,255 (I) a	William H. Gelineau: 2,183 (L)
75	David LaGrand: 25,868 (I) a	Chad Rossiter: 7,996
76	Winnie Brinks: 27,046 (I) a	Casey O'Neill: 18,473	John George: 1,558 (L) Brandon Hoezee: 603 (U.S. Taxpayers)
77	Dana Knight: 14,528	Tommy Brann: 27,946 a
78	Dean Hill: 12,529	Dave Pagel: 26,037 (I) a
79	Marletta Seats: 15,461	Kim LaSata: 23,657 a	Carl Oehling: 1,129 (U.S. Taxpayers)
80	John Andrysiak: 12,376	Mary Whiteford: 29,721 (I) a	Arnie Davidsons: 1,990 (L)
81	Stewart Sternberg: 12,633	Dan Lauwers: 28,068 (I) a
82	Margaret Guerrero DeLuca: 13,492	Gary Howell: 29,962 (I) a
83	Jim Frank: 12,345	Shane Hernandez: 23,108 a	Deena Marie Bruderick: 1,350 (G)
84	James Wencel: 14,026	Edward Canfield: 26,142 (I) a
85	Anthony Karhoff: 15,124	Ben Frederick: 24,683 a	Roger Snyder: 2,425 (L) Matthew Shepard: 1,674 (U.S. Taxpayers)
86	Lynn Mason: 16,516	Thomas Albert: 28,617 a	Bill Gelineau: 1,265 (L) Cliff Yankovich: 1,461 (G)
87	Eric Anderson: 12,955	Julie Calley: 30,957 a	Jay P. Gillotte: 2,238 (L)
88	Kim Nagy: 11,410	Roger Victory: 34,356 (I) a
89	Tim Meyer: 17,051	Jim Lilly: 30,340 a	Mary Buzuma: 2,231 (L)
90	Mary Yedinak: 11,533	Daniela Garcia: 30,968 (I) a
91	Collene Lamonte: 18,558	Holly Hughes: 20,959 (I) a	Max Riekse: 2,965 (L)
92	Terry Sabo: 22,584 a	Marshall Davis: 10,528
93	Josh Derke: 15,508	Tom Leonard: 29,328 (I) a	Tyler Palmer: 2,428 (L)
94	Kevin Seamon: 16,402	Tim Kelly: 30,150 (I) a
95	Vanessa Guerra: 23,809 (I) a	Dorothy Tanner: 8,419
96	Brian Elder: 22,992 a	David Scholl: 16,665
97	Robert Townsend: 13,074	Jason Wentworth: 24,124 a
98	Geoff Malicoat: 16,975	Gary Glenn: 25,642 (I) a
99	Bryan Mielke: 15,291	Roger Hauck: 18,358 a
100	Sandy Clarke: 12,514	Scott VanSingel: 25,721 a
101	Dan Scripps: 23,719	Curt VanderWall: 27,852 a
102	Douglas Gabert: 11,099	Michele Hoitenga: 24,761 a
103	Jordan Stancil: 18,589	Daire Rendon: 25,988 a
104	Betsy Coffia: 21,864	Larry Inman: 26,020 (I) a	Kelly Clark: 2,714 (L)
105	Wyatt Knight: 14,322	Triston Cole: 33,509 (I) a
106	Robert Kennedy: 16,937	Sue Allor: 29,798 a	Dana Carver: 1,838 (L)
107	Phil Bellfy: 14,781	Lee Chatfield: 30,131 (I) a
108	Scott Celello: 19,725	Beau LaFave: 22,013 a
109	John Kivela: 25,380 (I) a	Kevin Pfister: 13,892	Wade Roberts: 1,457 (G)
110	Scott Dianda: 23,532 (I) a	Gregory Markkanen: 15,016
Notes	• An (I) denotes an incumbent.
	• Candidate lists can change frequently throughout an election season. Ballotpedia staff update this list monthly. To suggest changes, click here to email our State Legislature Project.

Primary election[edit]

State House District 106 (R)

Four Republican candidates competed for the open seat vacated by the Republican incumbent.

☑ Sue Allor      ☐ David Chandler      ☐ Jackie Krawczak      ☐ Jesse Osmer

State House District 108 (R)

Three Republican candidates competed for the open seat vacated by the Republican incumbent.

☑ Beau LaFave      ☐ Alan Arcand      ☐ Darryl Shann

2016 Michigan House primary candidates
District	Democrat	Republican	Other
1	Kameshea Amos: 211 Brian Banks: 3,293 (I) a Corey Gilchrist: 218 Keith Hollowell: 407 Pamela Sossi: 2,618 Washington Youson: 573	William Broman a
2	Willie Bell: 1,328 Jeremy Henner: 1,217 Angles Hunt: 120 E. Regina Jones: 177 Bettie Cook Scott: 1,655 a Joseph Tate: 1,060 Carla Tinsley-Smith: 1,632	Molly Augustine: 414 Anthony Murray: 679 a
3	April Bonner-Archer: 754 Wendell Byrd: 3,129 (I) a Burgess Foster: 357 Donavan McKinney: 1,060 Damian Mitchell: 172 Lee Qualls: 140 Al Williams: 1,283	John Brodersen a
4	Charles Bell: 362 Mohammed Hassan: 319 Quincy Jones: 1,175 Jumar Motley: 158 Rose Mary Robinson: 3,249 (I) a Tracy Russell: 267 Abraham Shaw: 77	Matt Schonert a
5	Fred Durhal III: 2,246 (I) a Cynthia Johnson: 1,666	Dorothy Patterson a
6	Dennis Black: 559 Stephanie Chang: 5,276 (I) a Donnie Malone: 110 Dwayne Redding: 139 David Sanchez: 485 Casondria Walker-Keith: 376 Deirdre Jackson: 505	Attie Pollard a
7	LaTanya Garrett: 6,485 (I) a Bernard Thompson: 1,406	Gina Barr a
8	Sherry Gay-Dagnogo (I) a	Jennifer Rynicki a
9	Annie Carter: 151 Tijuana Morris: 192 Alicia Murphy: 241 William Phillips: 95 Gary Pollard: 1,834 Regina Ross: 535 Sylvia Santana: 2,967 a	James Stephens a
10	Mary Cavanagh: 1,623 Elizabeth Jefferson: 390 Leslie Love: 5,136 (I) a Mary Mazur: 383	William Brang a
11	Jewell Jones a	Robert Pope: 588 a Dale Prosser: 507
12	Erika Geiss: 3,976 (I) a Edward Martell: 1,208	Erik Soderquist a
13	Frank Liberati: 3,712 (I) a Rebecca Reed: 1,338	Annie Spencer a
14	Jeff Chicoine: 1,282 Cara Clemente: 2,397 a John Maranian: 228 Daniela Peric: 657	Darrell Stasik a
15	Norman Alsahoury: 42 Abdullah Hammoud: 3,477 a Roxanne McDonald: 1,861 Alex Shami: 145 Brian Stone: 2,641 Jacklin Zeidan: 957	Terrance Guido Gerin: 1,033 a Richard Johnson: 705 Paul Sophiea: 979
16	Robert Kosowski (I) a	Pat Gaffka: 683 Matthew Morrow: 1,093 a
17	Bill LaVoy (I) a	Joseph Bellino a
18	Steven Fleck: 509 Paul Francis: 1,184 Kevin Hertel: 5,454 a	Renata Polonaise a
19	Steve King: 2,606 a Jon Smith: 1,881	Laura Cox (I) a
20	Colleen Pobur: 2,937 a John J. Sullivan: 1,376	Jeffrey Neilson: 1,834 Jeff Noble: 3,317 a Chris Roosen: 3,201
21	Kristy Pagan (I) a	Derek Moss a
22	John Chirkun: 3,389 (I) a Nicole Reid: 1,615	Jeff Bonnell a
23	Sherry Berecz: 2,456 Darrin Camilleri: 2,623 a Elayne Petrucci: 375 Steven Rzeppa: 1,895	Michael Frazier: 382 Bob Howey: 3,150 a Mike Taylor: 580
24	Dana Camphous-Peterson a	No candidate
24	No candidate	Steve Marino: 4,991 a Arzo Smith: 191 Daryl Smith: 1,092
25	Jacqueline Sproles: 1,163 Henry Yanez: 4,201 (I) a	Ronald Simon Albers: 1,834 Steve Naumovski: 2,155 a
26	Jim Ellison a	Randy LeVasseur a
27	Robert Wittenberg (I) a	Kyle Forrest: 1,275 a Stefan Graziano: 922
28	Patrick Green: 2,517 a Paul M. Kardasz: 259 Lori M. Stone: 1,536 Mike Westphal: 690	Antoine M. Davison a
29	Tim Greimel (I) a	Garren Griffith: 1,098 a Peter Trzos: 837
30	Michael Notte: 2,453 a John Spica: 724	Joseph Bogdan: 640 Diana Farrington: 2,287 a Jackie Ryan: 556 Michael Shallal: 2,233
31	Michael Brewington: 1,263 William Sowerby: 4,561 a	Austin Negipe: 1,093 Lisa Valerio-Nowc: 2,206 a
32	Paul Manley a	Pamela Hornberger: 2,777 a Michael Shmina: 2,259 Justin Tranchita: 1,885
33	Yani Warda a	Colleen Carl: 2,130 Julianne Cusumano: 835 Charles Karafa: 327 Mel Koch: 1,494 Steven Stoll: 289 Jeff Yaroch: 3,161 a
34	Sheldon Neeley (I) a	Page Brousseau a
35	Jeremy Moss (I) a Diane Young a	Robert Brim a
36	No candidate	Peter Lucido (I) a
37	Christine Greig (I) a	Matt Beer: 1,742 Mitch Swoboda: 2,316 a
38	Jason Dorsch: 569 Amy McCusker: 3,045 a	Kathy Crawford: 5,266 (I) a Carson Lauffer: 2,359
39	Michael Stack a	Klint Kesto (I) a
40	Nicole Bedi a	Michael McCready (I) a
41	Cyndi Peltonen a	Martin Howrylak: 5,251 (I) a Ryan Manier: 1,041
42	Timothy Johnson a	Lana Theis (I) a
43	Ted Villella a	Jim Tedder (I) a
44	Mark Venie a	Jim Runestad (I) a
45	Immanuel Eickholdt: 950 Ted Golden: 2,170 a	Michael Webber (I) a
46	David Lillis a	Joe Kent: 6,429 John Reilly: 6,460 a
47	Keith Van Houten a	Henry Vaupel (I) a
48	Pam Faris (I) a	Joseph Reno a
49	Phil Phelps (I) a	Jeremy Baker: 829 a Patrick Duvendeck: 730
50	Raymond Freiberger: 2,181 Tim Sneller: 4,537 a	Michael Matheny: 1,973 a Jackie Seal: 1,118
51	Ryan Bladzik a	Joseph Graves: 4,832 (I) a Katherine Houston: 989 John Lauve: 999
52	Barbara Ryan Fuller: 3,312 Donna Lasinski: 3,649 a	Randy Clark a
53	Yousef Rabhi: 7,237 a Steven Kwasny: 1,225	Samuel Bissell a
54	Anne Brown: 2,189 Lisa Cardenas: 953 Bill Krebaum: 213 Gregory Peoples: 1,547 Ronnie Peterson: 2,940 a Michael White: 633	Kevin Jardine a
55	Adam Zemke (I) a	Bob Baird a
56	Tom Redmond a	Jason Sheppard (I) a
57	Harvey Schmidt a	Jim Cottrell: 2,234 Brian Good: 596 Bronna Kahle: 4,886 a
58	Mary Hamaty a	Eric Leutheuser (I) a
59	Carol Higgins a	Aaron Miller (I) a
60	Jon Hoadley (I) a	Alexander Ross a
61	John Fisher a	Brandt Iden (I) a
62	Jim Haadsma a	John Bizon (I) a
63	Lynn Shiflea a	David Maturen (I) a
64	Peter Bormuth: 419 Ron Brooks: 1,240 a	Julie Alexander: 3,479 a John Griffin: 2,256 Phil Tripp: 2,491
65	Val Cochran Toops: 398 Bonnie Johnson: 1,826 a	Robert Commet: 1,840 Brett Roberts: 5,389 (I) a
66	Annie Brown: 2,500 a Dylan Kerley: 302	Beth Griffin: 5,476 a Greg Kolich: 777 Matthew Nilson: 2,768
67	Tom Cochran: 5,407 (I) a Alec Findlay: 820	Leon Clark: 3,081 a Jerry Ketchum: 2,335
68	Chris Davenport: 760 Eric Nelson: 707 Andy Schor: 6,388 (I) a	Randy Pilon a
69	Sam Singh (I) a	George Nastas a
70	Ken Hart a	Gregory Alexander: 633 James Lower: 4,154 a L. Charles Mulholland: 1,286 Jeremy Putansu: 303 Dale Reyburn: 1,087 Michael Van Kleeck: 1,817
71	Theresa Abed a	Tom Barrett (I) a
72	Dick Cunningham: 683 Steve Shoemaker: 1,223 a	Robert Coughlin: 646 Ryan Gallogly: 1,555 Bill Hirsch: 1,367 Steven Johnson: 2,257 a Tony Noto: 1,748
73	Deb Havens a	Chris Afendoulis (I) a
74	Robin Bigger a	Rob VerHeulen (I) a
75	David LaGrand (I) a	Chad Rossiter a
76	Winnie Brinks (I) a	Casey O'Neill: 3,352 a Jeff Sheridan: 1,319
77	Dana Knight a	Tommy Brann: 6,752 a Frank Murin: 756
78	Dean Hill a	Dave Pagel (I) a
79	Marletta Seats a	Ryan Arnt: 2,010 Mary Brown: 346 Kim LaSata: 3,622 a Troy Rolling: 708
80	John Andrysiak a	Abigail Nobel: 2,521 Mary Whiteford: 7,278 (I) a
81	Stewart Sternberg a	Dan Lauwers (I) a
82	Margaret Guerrero DeLuca a	Gary Howell (I) a
83	Jim Frank a	Justin Faber: 2,526 Shane Hernandez: 5,355 a Matt Muxlow: 3,547
84	Chuck Stadler: 746 James Wencel: 1,205 a	Edward Canfield (I) a
85	John Horvath: 1,111 Anthony Karhoff: 1,157 a Joyce Surprenant: 851 John Vincent: 232	Hartman Aue: 2,087 Robert Cottrell: 706 Ben Frederick: 5,690 a George Sode: 283
86	Lynn Mason a	Thomas Albert: 3,293 a Katherine Henry: 2,442 Jeffrey Johnson: 2,925 Bartholomew J. Lower: 761 Matthew VanderWerff: 1,044
87	Eric Anderson a	Julie Calley a
88	Kim Nagy a	Roger Victory (I) a
89	Tim Meyer a	Brandon Hall: 872 Jim Lilly: 6,720 a Tracy Stille-Mulligan: 3,335
90	Mary Yedinak a	Orlando Estrada: 1,666 Daniela Garcia: 8,129 (I) a
91	Collene Lamonte a	Holly Hughes (I) a
92	Sean Mullally: 4,177 Terry Sabo: 4,321 a	Marshall Davis: 1,254 a Gail Eichorst: 1,026
93	Josh Derke a	Tom Leonard: 7,515 (I) a Charles Truesdell: 2,027
94	Kevin Seamon a	Tim Kelly (I) a
95	Vanessa Guerra (I) a	Dorothy Tanner a
96	Brian DuFresne: 1,751 Brian Elder: 5,971 a Donald Tilley: 5,059	David Scholl a
97	Robert Corbett: 1,177 Robert Townsend: 1,729 a	George Gilmore: 1,028 Brian Johnson: 647 Jacob Link: 1,881 Jason Wentworth: 3,309 a Thomas Winarski: 1,057
98	Geoff Malicoat a	Gary Glenn (I) a
99	Bryan Mielke a	Roger Hauck: 3,572 a Robin Stressman: 1,921
100	Sandy Clarke: 1,602 a Cathy Forbes: 1,114	Dan Eley: 1,005 Scott VanSingel: 9,528 a John Wilterink: 1,935
101	Dan Scripps a	Cary Urka: 1,726 Curt VanderWall: 7,100 a Mark Walter: 3,295
102	Douglas Gabert a	Jason Briscoe: 2,110 Michele Hoitenga: 3,865 a Ormand Hook: 2,212 Morris Langworthy, Jr.: 3,142
103	Robyn Pillinger Daniels: 894 Brad Richards: 709 Tim Schaiberger: 1,005 Jordan Stancil: 2,096 a	Vijay Kumar: 2,637 Daire Rendon: 11,423 a
104	Betsy Coffia: 3,584 a Megan Crandall: 918	Jason Gillman: 5,139 Larry Inman: 7,410 (I) a
105	Wyatt Knight a	Triston Cole (I) a
106	Robert Kennedy: 3,298 a Erin Kieliszewski: 3,102	Sue Allor: 4,182 a David Chandler: 1,251 Jackie Krawczak: 3,971 Jesse Osmer: 1,916
107	Phil Bellfy a	Lee Chatfield: 9,616 (I) a Kathy Twardy: 3,598
108	Scott Celello: 3,344 a Dana Dziedzic: 2,415	Alan Arcand: 2,909 Beau LaFave: 4,055 a Darryl Shann: 2,258
109	Sara Cambensy: 4,095 John Kivela: 7,168 (I) a	Kevin Pfister: 2,600 a Melody Wagner Patterson: 1,882
110	Scott Dianda (I) a	Gregory Markkanen a
Notes	• An (I) denotes an incumbent.
	• Candidate lists can change frequently throughout an election season. Ballotpedia staff update this list monthly. To suggest changes, click here to email our State Legislature Project.

Margins of victory[edit]

The average margin of victory for contested races in the Michigan House of Representatives in 2016 was higher than the national average. Out of 110 races in the Michigan House of Representatives in 2016, 110 were contested, meaning at least two candidates competed for that seat in the general election. The average margin of victory across these races was 31.8 percent. Across contested single-winner state legislative elections in 2016, the average margin of victory was 29.01 percent.^[2]

Michigan House of Representatives: 2016 Margins of Victory Less than 10 Percent
District	Winning Party	Margin of Victory
District 17	R	8.0 percent
District 20	R	7.2 percent
District 23	D	0.7 percent
District 25	D	8.2 percent
District 30	R	7.7 percent
District 39	R	8.2 percent
District 40	R	7.0 percent
District 48	D	7.6 percent
District 50	D	4.1 percent
District 52	D	7.8 percent
District 61	R	4.7 percent
District 62	R	0.6 percent
District 66	R	8.5 percent
District 67	D	9.3 percent
District 91	R	5.7 percent
District 99	R	9.1 percent
District 101	R	8.0 percent
District 104	R	8.2 percent
District 108	R	5.5 percent

Michigan House of Representatives: 2016 Margin of Victory Analysis
Party	Elections won	Average margin of victory[3]	Races with incumbent victories	Average margin of victory for incumbents[3]	Unopposed incumbents	Unopposed races	Percent unopposed
Democratic	47	40.9 percent	31	46.4 percent	0	0	N/A
Republican	63	25.1 percent	36	27.3 percent	0	0	N/A
Total	110	31.8 percent	67	36.2 percent	0	0	N/A

Click [show] on the tables below to see the margin of victory in Michigan House of Representatives districts in 2016.

Important dates and deadlines[edit]

See also: Michigan elections, 2016

The calendar below lists important dates for political candidates in Michigan in 2016.

Competitiveness[edit]

Candidates unopposed by a major party[edit]

In all 110 districts up for election in 2016, candidates from both major parties faced off in the general election.

Primary challenges[edit]

Twenty-three incumbents faced primary competition on August 2. Forty-two seats were open, leaving 45 incumbents that advanced past the primary without opposition.

Retired incumbents[edit]

Forty incumbent representatives did not run for re-election and two seats were vacant at the time of the 2016 general election. Sixty-eight incumbents ran for re-election. A list of those retiring incumbents, 27 Republicans and 13 Democrats, can be found above.

Impact of term limits[edit]

See also: State legislatures with term limits

The Michigan House of Representatives has been a term-limited state house since Michigan voters approved Proposal B in 1992. Proposal B created Section 54 of Article IV of the Michigan Constitution. It says that state representatives are limited to three two-year terms. As with five other states, this is a lifetime limit.

There are 110 members of the Michigan House of Representatives. In 2016, 38 members, eleven Democrats and 27 Republicans, were ineligible to run again in November.

The state representatives who were term-limited in 2016 were:

Results from 2014[edit]

See also: 2014 state legislative elections analyzed using a Competitiveness Index

There were 6,057 seats in 87 chambers with elections in 2014. All three aspects of Ballotpedia's Competitiveness Index—the number of open seats, incumbents facing primary opposition, and general elections between partisan candidates—showed poor results compared to the prior election cycle. States with elections in 2014 held fewer general elections between partisan candidates. Additionally, fewer incumbents faced primary opposition and more incumbents ran for re-election than in recent years.

Since 2010, when the Competitiveness Index was established, there had not been an even-year election cycle to do statistically worse in any of the three categories. See the following chart for a breakdown of those scores between each year.

The following table details Michigan's rates for open seats, incumbents that faced primary challenges, and major party competition in the 2014 general election.

Historical context[edit]

See also: Competitiveness in State Legislative Elections: 1972-2014

Uncontested elections: In 2014, 32.8 percent of Americans lived in states with an uncontested state senate election. Similarly, 40.4 percent of Americans lived in states with uncontested house elections. Primary elections were uncontested even more frequently, with 61 percent of people living in states with no contested primaries. Uncontested elections often occur in locations that are so politically one-sided that the result of an election would be a foregone conclusion regardless of whether it was contested or not.

Open seats: In most cases, an incumbent will run for re-election, which decreases the number of open seats available. In 2014, 83 percent of the 6,057 seats up for election saw the incumbent running for re-election. The states that impose term limits on their legislatures typically see a higher percentage of open seats in a given year because a portion of incumbents in each election are forced to leave office. Overall, the number of open seats decreased from 2012 to 2014, dropping from 21.2 percent in 2012 to 17.0 percent in 2014.

Incumbent win rates: Ballotpedia's competitiveness analysis of elections between 1972 and 2014 documented the high propensity for incumbents to win re-election in state legislative elections. In fact, since 1972, the win rate for incumbents had not dropped below 90 percent—with the exception of 1974, when 88 percent of incumbents were re-elected to their seats. Perhaps most importantly, the win rate for incumbents generally increased over time. In 2014, 96.5 percent of incumbents were able to retain their seats. Common convention holds that incumbents are able to leverage their office to maintain their seat. However, the high incumbent win rate may actually be a result of incumbents being more likely to hold seats in districts that are considered safe for their party.

Marginal primaries: Often, competitiveness is measured by examining the rate of elections that have been won by amounts that are considered marginal (5 percent or less). During the 2014 election, 90.1 percent of primary and general election races were won by margins higher than 5 percent. Interestingly, it is usually the case that only one of the two races—primary or general—will be competitive at a time. This means that if a district's general election is competitive, typically one or more of the district's primaries were won by more than 5 percent. The reverse is also true: If a district sees a competitive primary, it is unlikely that the general election for that district will be won by less than 5 percent. Primaries often see very low voter turnout in comparison to general elections. In 2014, there were only 27 million voters for state legislative primaries, but approximately 107 million voters for the state legislative general elections.

Campaign contributions[edit]

The following chart shows how many candidates ran for state House in Michigan in past years and the cumulative amount of campaign contributions in state House races, including contributions in both primary and general election contests.^[4]

State comparison[edit]

The map below shows the average contributions to 2014 candidates for state houses. The average contributions raised by state house candidates in 2014 was $59,983. Michigan, at $48,949 per candidate, is ranked 20 of 45 for state house chambers with the highest average contributions. Hover your mouse over a state to see the average campaign contributions for that state’s house candidates in 2014.^[4][5]

Qualifications[edit]

Section 7 of Article 4 of the Michigan Constitution states: "Each senator and representative must be a citizen of the United States, at least 21 years of age, and an elector of the district he represents. The removal of his domicile from the district shall be deemed a vacation of the office. No person who has been convicted of subversion or who has within the preceding 20 years been convicted of a felony involving a breach of public trust shall be eligible for either house of the legislature."^[6]

See also[edit]

• Michigan House of Representatives
• Michigan State Legislature
• State legislative elections, 2016

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