A movement is growing at Daily Kos to fix a key problem in our party — regardless of whether Hillary, Martin, or Bernie wins the presidential nomination. In the past couple of months we’ve launched Crowdsourcing the 50-State Strategy and are recruiting activists to join us in this long-term, bottom-up rebuilding process.
If you are interested in volunteering to help with this effort please send our group a kosmail and let us know how you want to help. Navajo, who is organizing volunteers, will send you an invite. Also please post your own diaries and recommend the work of others you think are good additions to the effort.
The problem is a massive candidate recruiting failure that will result in many voters having no Democrat to choose when they go vote in November 2016.
Bold = Upcoming Deadlines
Strike-through = Deadlines that have Past
One example of this recruiting failure is US House races:
- We need to pick up 30 seats to win back the House and actually have a shot at governing
- 16 of the 79 Republican Members of the House of Representatives who represent districts where President Obama got at least 47% of the vote currently are running unopposed
- 97 Republican Members of the House of Representatives currently have no Democrat running against them
- In many of the seats where we have candidates, those candidates do not have the resources currently to get their message out
- Filing deadlines have passed in 7 states and we have already left 16 seats uncontested
- In 2014 we left 38 seats uncontested
- In 2012 we left 24 seats uncontested
- In 2010 we left 24 seats uncontested
- In 2008 we left 12 seats uncontested
- In 2006 we left 11 seats uncontested
- In 2004 (before the 50 State Strategy) we left 36 seats uncontested
- Pennsylvania’s Congressional filing deadline is February 16, 2016 and currently 4 out of 15 Republicans in Pennsylvania are running unopposed
But sadly the recruiting failure is often even worse at the state and local level. We don’t want people to experience what Steven D did – that he wrote about in his Recommended Diary – that when he showed up to vote this past November many of his local races in Upstate NY didn’t have a Democrat on the ballot. That is even sadder because many of those districts are small enough that door knocking, volunteers, and neighbor-to-neighbor communication can have much more impact than money alone.
We as a community can crowdsource our way out of this problem and ensure voters have meaningful choices when they go vote.
Will you join us in this fight now?
You can help by drafting or recommending diaries on the following:
- Candidate recruiting needs
- Profiles on down ballot races where candidates are needed
- Filing procedures
- To start a draft movement or report on draft movements
You can also use your expertise to help campaigns as Chris Reeves lays out in this diary.
This is the next installment in a series of diaries by a group of us here in the DKos Community to Crowdsource a 50-State Strategy.
In this installment we will look in-depth at Michigan.
Join me below the fold for my outline of the current situation in US House races in Pennsylvania (draft movements can take time, so we need to start now on the states with deadlines in February and beyond):
- Please add to or correct anything I get wrong
- Please do your own versions for other states and/or for state and local races and post them on DKos and cross post them on state and local blogs for the areas you write about
Note: Potential Candidates are names that – as Daily Kos Elections would put it – the Great Mentioner has tossed their names out as people who might run, but they may or may not be taking any steps to think about running.
Michigan Filing Deadline: April 19, 2016
Michigan is a state where the Republicans gerrymandered the state into what could be — with a significant Democratic effort — a dummymander. That is where a gerrymander ends up not working out the way the map drawers intended and results in significant pickups for the other side. Under current lines Obama got at least 48% in every district in Michigan in 2008 and in all but 2 districts he won 50% or more in. That means voters have been willing to vote for Democrats and Democrats are within striking distance everywhere if they run quality candidates that run strong campaigns.
But you cannot win if you don’t run candidates and currently 4 seats in Michigan, including 1 open seat, do not have a Democratic candidate running.
Recruiting candidates and helping candidates think through the difficult decision to run for office takes time, so let’s get started now. Please suggest candidates and add background on districts or candidates in the comments. Also please suggest local resources and allies that you think would be helpful. Thanks!
MI-01
MI-1
2008: Obama 50% McCain 48%
2012: Obama 45% Romney 54%
Cook Partisan Index: R+5
Median Household Income: $41,971
Demographics: 1.6% Black, .7% Asian, 2.6% Native American, 91.8% White, .3% Other, 1.9% Two or more; Hispanic or Latino 1.5%
Veterans/active duty: 11.9%
Urban 0% Suburban 0% Rural 100%
% of Voting Age Turnout Voting in 2012: 62.8%
Incumbent: Open Seat - Dan Benishek (R) is retiring
Current Opponents:
-
Tom Casperson (R) - State Sen., Ex-State Rep., Logging Trucking Company Owner & '08 Nominee
- Jason Allen (R) - Ex-State Senate Majority Whip, Ex-State Rep., Businessman, National Guard Veteran & '10 Candidate
-
Jerry Cannon (D) - Ex-Kalkaska County Sheriff, Retired Army Major General & '14 Nominee
-
Lon Johnson (D) - State Democratic Chair, Political Consultant & '12 State Rep. Nominee
Potential Candidates:
District background:
- Upper Peninsula and northern counties of the Lower Peninsula, Traverse City, Petoskey, Charlevoix
- Upper Peninsula has just under half of the districts population and a very strong sense of local identity
- Upper Peninsula has a lengthy Democratic tradition
- Upper Peninsula has been a very significant mining area that attracted an diverse immigrant community, including a large number of Finns (several counties have a plurality of people of Finnish ancestry), Cornish, Welsh, Irish, Italian, Swedes, and Norwegians
- Lower Peninsula sections of district are more Republican
MI-02
MI-2
2008: Obama 48% McCain 50%
2012: Obama 43% Romney 56%
Cook Partisan Index: R+7
Median Household Income: $48,717
Demographics: 5.9% Black, 2.1% Asian, .4% Native American, 80.8% White, 2.4% Other, 2.1% Two or more; Hispanic or Latino 8.7%
Veterans/active duty: 8%
Urban 41% Suburban 31.9% Rural 27.1%
% of Voting Age Turnout Voting in 2012: 64.1%
Incumbent: Bill Huizenga (R)
Current Opponents: None
District background:
- West-Central Michigan, Ludington, Holland, Grand Rapids Suburbs
- District has the large Dutch-American population, which tends to be heavily Republican
- Ottawa County on southern end of the district is the most populous county in the district and is heavily Dutch-American
- 1/5 of district lives in Grand Rapids suburbs, which are less Republican than other parts of the district
- Most Democratic parts of the district are old industrial centers in Muskegon County
- Manufacturing area with fruit growing areas inland (cherry orchards in the north and blueberries in the south)
- Gerber baby food is based here in Freemont
- In 2007-2009 unemployment hit 20%, but is now down to 6%
About Bill Huizenga:
- Further to the right on banking and fiscal issues than the districts former congressman Pete Hoekstra (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 935)
- Was Director of Public Policy for former congressman Pete Hoekstra (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 935)
- Supports replacing the income tax with a 23% sales tax (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 935)
- Supports privatizing Social Security (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 935)
- Opposes a women’s right to choose (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 935)
- Voted for Keystone Pipeline (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 934)
- Voted against Medical Marijuana (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 934)
- Voted to defund Planned Parenthood (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 859)
- Voted to repeal Obamacare (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 859)
- Voted for Ryan Budget (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 859)
-
As of September 30, 2015 only has $381,991 cash on hand (www.fec.gov)
MI-03
MI-3
2008: Obama 50% McCain 49%
2012: Obama 46% Romney 53%
Cook Partisan Index: R+4
Median Household Income: $51,202
Demographics: 8.8% Black, 1.3% Asian, .4% Native American, 80% White, 1.3% Other, 2.5% Two or more; Hispanic or Latino 6.9%
Veterans/active duty: 8.4%
Urban 49.4% Suburban 35.2% Rural 15.5%
% of Voting Age Turnout Voting in 2012: 65.4%
Incumbent: Justin Amash (R)
Current Opponents: None
District background:
- West-Central Michigan, Grand Rapids Metro Area
- Three major parts of the district
- City of Grand Rapids (25% of population and heavily Democratic)
- The non-Grand Rapids part of Kent County, Ionia and Barry counties, and the small portion of Montcalm County that is in the district (50+% of population and Republican)
- Calhoun County (home to Battle Creek)
- Grand Rapids is Michigan’s second largest city and its most prosperous metropolitan area (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 937)
- Grand Rapids has historically had a large furniture manufacturing industry, after much of that industry has moved to North Carolina, it reinvented itself into a major office furniture producer with three of the nation’s largest office furniture manufacturers – Steelcase, Haworth, and Herman Miller – located in its metro area (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 937)
- Grand Rapids is also a center for machine tools, Hush Puppies shoes, and Bissell carpet sweepers (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 937)
- Grand Rapids had the national ninth fastest growing economy in 2014 and a 3.8% (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 937) unemployment rate in February 2015 (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 937)
- Amway is based here (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 937)
- Large Dutch-American population (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 937)
- Battle Creek is where W.K. Kellogg invented corn flakes (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 937)
About Justin Amash:
- 35 years old (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 936)
- Libertarian and often at odds with the Republican establishment (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 937)
- Lost his seat on the Budget Committee in 2012 for his refusal to toe the party line (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 937)
- He is unlikely to have the national party help if he gets into trouble seeking re-election
- In state legislature fought to illuminate state taxes on businesses (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 938)
- “A proponent of states’ rights, he proposed an amendment to the state constitution that would prevent the implementation of President Barack Obama’s health care law.” (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 938)
- Got into a “Facebook feud” with the NRA over his opposition to to legislation that granted reciprocity for concealed weapons permits because he said the measure would subvert states’ rights (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 938)
- Was only vote in the House against a measure to toughen penalties for human trafficking (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 938)
- Was only vote in the House against a measure to allow military service members to get out of cell phone contracts if deployed overseas (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 938)
- Voted Present on Keystone Pipeline (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 936)
- Voted Present on defunding Planned Parenthood (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 861)
- Voted to repeal Obamacare (The Almanac of American Politics 2014, p. 861)
-
As of September 30, 2015 only has $310,824 cash on hand (www.fec.gov)
MI-04
MI-4
2008: Obama 50% McCain 49%
2012: Obama 45% Romney 53%
Cook Partisan Index: R+5
Median Household Income: $56,287
Demographics: 2% Black, .9% Asian, .8% Native American, 92% White, .5% Other, 1.5% Two or more; Hispanic or Latino 2.8%
Veterans/active duty: 9.3%
Urban 18.4% Suburban 15.3% Rural 66.3%
% of Voting Age Turnout Voting in 2012: 59.1%
Incumbent: John Moolenaar (R)
Current Opponents: None
District background:
- Central Michigan, northern outskirts of Lansing and outer areas around Saginaw, Midland, Cadillac, Mt. Pleasant, areas west of Flint
- Potato, navy bean, and sugar beet farms with towns that are often small factory towns (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 940)
- Dow Chemical was started here in Midland (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 940)
- Mount Pleasant is home to Central Michigan University, the third largest public university in the state (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 940)
About John Moolenaar:
-
As of September 30, 2015 only has $89,938 cash on hand (www.fec.gov)
- First elected in 2014 winning the Republican primary with the support of Rick Santorum (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 940)
- Was one of five House Republicans named to the House-Senate conference committee that resolved issues in the annual budget resolution (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 941)
MI-05
MI-5
2008: Obama 63% McCain 35%
2012: Obama 61% Romney 38%
Cook Partisan Index: D+10
Median Household Income: $39,662
Demographics: 17.4% Black, .8% Asian, .6% Native American, 74.4% White, .6% Other, 1% Two or more; Hispanic or Latino 4.6%
Veterans/active duty: 9.7%
Urban 19% Suburban 13.1% Rural 67.9%
% of Voting Age Turnout Voting in 2012: 52.1%
Incumbent: Dan Kildee (D)
Current Opponents:
District background:
MI-06
MI-6
2008: Obama 53% McCain 45%
2012: Obama 49% Romney 50%
Cook Partisan Index: R+1
Median Household Income: $46,738
Demographics: 8.5% Black, 1.3% Asian, .4% Native American, 81.8% White, 1.7% Other, 2.4% Two or more; Hispanic or Latino 5.5%
Veterans/active duty: 8.8%
Urban 36.1% Suburban 34.2% Rural 29.6%
% of Voting Age Turnout Voting in 2012: 61.9%
Incumbent: Fred Upton (R)
Current Opponent:
Potential Opponents:
District background:
- Southwest Michigan, Kalamazoo, Benton Harbor, St. Joseph
- Cass County has a sizable rural African-American population that are descended from people who escaped slavery on the Underground Railroad to come to Michigan (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 945)
- Predominantly Black Benton Harbor has been the site of real estate profiteering by the Emergency Manager appointed by Republican Governor Rick Snyder
- Benton Harbor was headquarters for Whirlpool and Gibson Guitars but both have moved there factories elsewhere (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 945)
- Kalamazoo was initially settled by Dutch Americans and is the home of Upjohn pharmaceuticals that is now part of Pfizer (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 945)
- An oil spill polluted the Kalamazoo River (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 945)
- District in Chicago media market (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 945)
About Fred Upton:
- Grandson of one of the founders of Whirlpool and his wealth “puts him in the upper echelon among members of Congress with wealth” (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 946)
- His niece is the model Kate Upton (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 946)
- As Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Telecommunications Subcommittee for six years he pushed for larger fines against broadcasters for indecent programming (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 946)
- Became Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee in 2010 (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 946)
- Upton became more conservative as he courted Republican leaders to become Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee and his American Conservative Union rating went up from a lifetime rating of 73 to 92 (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 946)
- Maybe the case can be made to voters in his district that he is no longer the old Fred Upton and sold himself out to get power within an extremely right wing party; for example Bill Ballenger, editor of the newsletter Inside Michigan Politics told The Chicago Tribune “The old Upton who five, six, eight years ago would have been more moderate on votes and parted company with his party, that old Upton is gone.”
- Called Obamacare “a massive new government program that does real and lasting damage to our current system and all those covered under it” (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 946)
- Initiated and passed through the House legislation to overturn the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 946)
- Initiated and passed through the House legislation to overturn the FCC’s net neutrality rules (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 946)
- Sierra Club and other environmental groups started running adds against him after he moved to the right (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 946)
- He flip-flopped on first championing and then opposing a ban on incandescent light bulbs (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 947)
- Voted for Keystone Pipeline (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 944)
- Voted to defund Planned Parenthood (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 869)
- Voted to repeal Obamacare (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 869)
- Voted for Ryan Budget (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 869)
-
As of September 30, 2015 only has $829,168 cash on hand (www.fec.gov)
MI-07
MI-7
2008: Obama 51% McCain 47%
2012: Obama 48% Romney 51%
Cook Partisan Index: R+3
Median Household Income: $50,462
Demographics: 4% Black, .8% Asian, .5% Native American, 89% White, .8% Other, 1.8% Two or more; Hispanic or Latino 4%
Veterans/active duty: 8.8%
Urban 30.9% Suburban 39.5% Rural 29.6%
% of Voting Age Turnout Voting in 2012: 62%
Incumbent: Tim Walberg (R)
Current Opponents:
District background:
- Southern Michigan, Jackson, Monroe
- Jackson has lost nearly 8% of its total population since 2000 and 40% of its population since it peaked in 1930 (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 949)
- Clemens Food Group has announced it is building a $255 million pork processing plant in Branch County that will employ more than 800 employees (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 949)
- In May 2015, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a construction license for a new nuclear reactor near Monroe (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 949)
- The portions of Washtenaw County in the district lean Republican, which include much of the areas surrounding Ann Arbor (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 949)
About Tim Walberg:
- First elected in 2006 and then lost in 2008 to Mark Schauer and then reclaimed the district in 2010
- Is an ardent social and fiscal conservative (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 949)
- In his 16 years in the state legislature he built a reputation as strongly pro-gun and anti-choice (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 949)
- From 1998-2005 he was president of a conservative education foundation and division manager for the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 949)
- In 2006 he defeated a moderate Republican incumbent in the primary Teabagging before Teabagging was an in thing among Republicans and since the Democrats didn’t field a strong opponent he waltzed into office without Democratic opposition(The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 950)
- In September 2010 gave a radio interview and when asked whether President Obama was an American citizen said “We don’t have enough information about this president.” Though by the end of the day had back tracked and acknowledge that President Obama was “certainly an American citizen” (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 950)
- Has had one of the most conservative voting records in the Michigan delegation (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 950)
- He proposed an amendment to cut the National Endowment for the Arts funding by more than $20 million passed the House in 2011 but died in the Democratically controlled Senate (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 950)
- He introduced a resolution expressing support for prayer at school board meetings (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 950)
- He is the Chair of the Education and Workforce Committee’s Subcommittee on Workforce Protection and has used the position to argue against giving home-care workers minimum wage and overtime protection (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 950)
- Has voiced concern that the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission has overstepped its authority (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 950)
- Voted for Keystone Pipeline (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 948)
- Voted against Medical Marijuana (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 948)
- Voted to defund Planned Parenthood (The Almanac of American Politics 2014, p. 872)
- Voted for the Ryan Budget (The Almanac of American Politics 2014, p. 872)
- Voted to repeal Obamacare (The Almanac of American Politics 2014, p. 872)
-
As of September 30, 2015 only has $922,034 cash on hand (www.fec.gov)
MI-08
MI-8
2008: Obama 52% McCain 46%
2012: Obama 48% Romney 51%
Cook Partisan Index: R+2
Median Household Income: $61,456
Demographics: 5.5% Black, 3.7% Asian, .1% Native American, 83.4% White, 1.1% Other, 2.5% Two or more; Hispanic or Latino 4.6%
Veterans/active duty: 7.2%
Urban 20.2% Suburban 77.6% Rural 2.2%
% of Voting Age Turnout Voting in 2012: 68.5%
Incumbent: Mike Bishop (R)
Current Candidates:
District background:
- Central Michigan, Lansing, Detroit Exurbs: Brighton, Howell
- Michigan State is in East Lansing and was America’s first land grant college (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 951)
- Lansing and East Lansing are heavily Democratic (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 951)
- Lansing’s population has declined 13% since its peak in 1970 (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 952)
- East Lansing voters in May 2015 passed a referendum legalizing marijuana (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 952)
- Livingston County with Detroit Exurbs such as Brighton and Howell is one of Michigan’s fastest growing counties, having a population increase of 59% from 1990 to 2013 and it is heavily Republican (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 952)
- Combined Ingham County (home to Lansing and East Lansing) and Livingston Counties gave Obama 52% in 2012 (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 952)
- The rest of the district is in northern Oakland County, including the towns of Rochester, Rochester Hills, Springfield, and Oxford, which lean Republican (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 952)
- When the seat was open in 2014 the Democratic candidate was Eric Schertzinger, who was the Treasurer of Ingham County, but 2014 was a tough year for Democrats and the DCCC canceled its ad buys for the district and Bishop outspent Schertzinger 2-1 (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 952)
About Mike Bishop:
- Lifelong resident of Oakland County (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 952)
- His father was in the State Senate (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 952)
- He served as Majority Leader of the State Senate from 2007-2011 (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 951)
- Strongly pro-gun (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 952)
- Wants to “reform” Social Security (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 952)
- He serves on the Republican Steering Committee which makes committee assignments for Republicans, so if you like who is on what committees you have him partially to thank (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 952)
MI-09
MI-9
2008: Obama 58% McCain 40%
2012: Obama 57% Romney 42%
Cook Partisan Index: D+6
Median Household Income: $51,154
Demographics: 10.9% Black, 3.7% Asian, .5% Native American, 81.1% White, .6% Other, 1.9% Two or more; Hispanic or Latino 1.6%
Veterans/active duty: 6.9%
Urban 48.6% Suburban 51.4% Rural 0%
% of Voting Age Turnout Voting in 2012: 64.8%
Incumbent: Sander Levin (D)
Current Opponents: None
District background:
- North Detroit Suburbs in Eastern Oakland County and Southern Macomb County
MI-10
MI-10
2008: Obama 48% McCain 50%
2012: Obama 44% Romney 55%
Cook Partisan Index: R+6
Median Household Income: $55,027
Demographics: 2.5% Black, 1.5% Asian, .2% Native American, 90.9% White, .9% Other, 1.5% Two or more; Hispanic or Latino 3.5%
Veterans/active duty: 9%
Urban 2.8% Suburban 77.3% Rural 19.9%
% of Voting Age Turnout Voting in 2012: 64.6%
Incumbent: Open Seat - Candice Miller (R) is retiring
Current Candidates:
- No Democrats Currently Running
-
Paul Mitchell (R) - Businessman, Ex-State GOP Finance Chair & '14 Candidate in CD-4
-
Phil Pavlov (R) - State Sen., Ex-State Rep. & Ex-St. Clair County Commissioner
-
Alan Sanborn (R) - Ex-State Sen., Ex-State Rep. & Probation Officer
Potential Candidates:
District background:
- The Thumb of Michigan, Detroit Suburbs, Macomb County, Lapeer County, St. Clair County, including Port Huron
- Macomb County (population of 855,000 and is split between the 9th and 10th Congressional Districts) is a swing county and predominately Catholic (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 958)
- Half the voters in the district are in Macomb County (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 958)
- The other half of the district is in the Thumb of Michigan, including Lapeer County and St. Clair County, home of Port Huron (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 958)
MI-11
MI-11
2008: Obama 50% McCain 48%
2012: Obama 47% Romney 52%
Cook Partisan Index: R+4
Median Household Income: $73,294
Demographics: 4.7% Black, 1.4% Asian, .3% Native American, 82% White, .4% Other, 2.1% Two or more; Hispanic or Latino 3.6%
Veterans/active duty: 6.6%
Urban .9% Suburban 99.1% Rural 0%
% of Voting Age Turnout Voting in 2012: 73.8%
Incumbent: Dave Trott (R)
Current Opponents:
Potential Candidates:
District background:
- Detroit Suburbs, Central Oakland County, Northern Wayne County
- 3/5ths of the district is in Oakland County, including Troy, Birmingham, Novi, Bloomfield Hills, and Waterford (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 961)
- 2/5ths of the district is in Wayne County, including Northville, Plymouth, and Livonia (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 961)
- Affluent towns like Northville (with a median income of $104,00), Bloomfield Hills ($132,000) (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 960)
- Novi, in Oakland County is a fast growing high-income suburb and is 16% Asian-American and offers multilingual instruction in its hospitals, workplaces, and schools (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 960-961)
- Livonia (population 95,000) where A123 Systems just opened a large lithium ion factory and Ford is producing its all-electric Transit Connect van (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 960)
About Dave Trott:
- Foreclosure lawyer (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 961)
- Developed his family law firm into the largest foreclosure law firm in Michigan (The Almanac of American Politics 2016, p. 961)
-
As of September 30, 2015 only has $430,115 cash on hand (www.fec.gov)
MI-12
MI-12
2008: Obama 67% McCain 31%
2012: Obama 66% Romney 33%
Cook Partisan Index: D+15
Median Household Income: $52,193
Demographics: 10.2% Black, 4.5% Asian, .4% Native American, 76.3% White, 1.1% Other, 3.3% Two or more; Hispanic or Latino 5.2%
Veterans/active duty: 7.1%
Urban 34.2% Suburban 65.8% Rural 0%
% of Voting Age Turnout Voting in 2012: 63.2%
Incumbent: Debbie Dingell (D)
Current Opponents:
District background:
- Southern Detroit Suburbs, Ann Arbor
MI-13
MI-13
2008: Obama 86% McCain 13%
2012: Obama 85% Romney 14%
Cook Partisan Index: D+34
Median Household Income: $30,706
Demographics: 56.2% Black, 1.2% Asian, .3% Native American, 33.6% White, 4.1% Other, 2% Two or more; Hispanic or Latino 6.5%
Veterans/active duty: 6.7%
Urban 59% Suburban 41% Rural 0%
% of Voting Age Turnout Voting in 2012: 59%
Incumbent: John Conyers (D)
Current Opponents:
District background:
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