The Michigan Democratic Party held a post-election celebration amid bleak results being reported on Tuesday night at the MGM Grand Detroit Casino.
“Mr. Snyder will soon be governor,” Virg Bernero said during his concession speach Tuesday night. “He has promised to govern as a moderate like Bill Milliken, not like Jon Engler. If he does that, I promise I will partner with Rick Snyder and will work with him hand in hand. But if that doesn’t happen, we will be watching.”
Many supporters in the crowd echoed Bernero’s acceptance and warning to the republican victors, looking toward the 2012 elections as an opportunity for the political pendulum to swing back in the democrats’ favor.
“It’s early, and we have high hopes that we can get the turnout we need,” said David Leyton, the democratic candidate for Michigan attorney general, one of the first candidates to arrive when the party began at 8 p.m. and polls closed.
As the night progressed, it became more evident democrats would ultimately lose all three of the top state-wide positions: governor, secretary of state and attorney general.
Hope for a series of victory speeches were well tempered as pre-election polls showed most state-wide democratic candidates, including Leyton, trailed republican counterparts and would need a strong turnout from democratic bases to pull out victories.
Headlining the event was gubernatorial candidate and current mayor of Lansing, Virg Bernero, who delivered his concession speech just before 10 p.m.
Bernero lost to republican candidate Rick Snyder, who took 54.5 percent of the votes.
“I will always be proud of the campaign we‘ve ran this year, proud of your determination and your passion,“ Bernero said to his supporters and staff. “Our campaign may end tonight, but our work standing up for regular people will go on.”
Giles Tucker, a senior at Eastern Michigan University, political science major and field organizer for the democratic campaign, pointed to low voter participation in the election and said the MDP might have learned some lessons from the defeat.
“People need to know that less than 50 percent of people in the state just decided what will happen for the next four years,” Tucker said.
“There’s no way you can have a proper democracy when you have less than half your population voting. Democrats need to learn how to get people to the polls.”
Gary Wagaman, who previously studied journalism at EMU, worked as a field organizer for secretary of state candidate Jocelyn Benson.
Wagaman echoed Tucker’s disappointment in how the campaign was carried out.
“We fell asleep at the wheel,” Tucker said. He went on to say the Democratic candidates were too far behind in fundraising and misspent the money they did raise.
“We spent almost all of our funds in Detroit and Lansing, which were already strong areas for us. It’s hard to fight against a campaign that’s outspending us 4-to-1 every [where] else.”
Despite mostly working on the losing side, many EMU students who worked on the elections said the experience was more than worthwhile.
Kylie Clark, EMU senior and philosophy major also worked as a field organizer and described the experience as invaluable.
“The biggest thing I learned is that our electoral process allows for an open opportunity for all people to run for office,” Clark said. “There’s a lot of hard work and time, but it can be done.”
As for the results of the election, she said democrats could have done better if they had focused on what they have accomplished.
“I’m sure the president is sorry he didn’t toot his own horn for the last 12 months,” she said. “Maybe next time we’ll be a little more supportive of our own values.”
