Michigan’s political scene saw a major shift as election results started rolling in Tuesday night. As poll information became solidified through the evening, it soon became evident that the national House of Representatives wasn’t the only place where the Republican Party saw its campaign work come to fruition. Results in Michigan mirrored that outcome.
Rick Snyder took home the big win for the GOP in the state this election day with 58 percent of the vote to Virg Bernero’s 40 percent. With results clearly cut relatively early in the night, gubernatorial hopeful Bernero gave his concession speech from the MGM Grand in downtown Detroit shortly after 10 p.m., triggering the first reason the Michigan republican voters had to celebrate over a governor’s election in over a decade (the last being John Engler’s election in 1998).
“This was about the idea of taking a vision, a plan, an attitude of action and building a fabulous team,” Snyder said in his speech on election night. “Now we’re at a milestone.”
For someone who was a total underdog at the beginning of the race and who has little political experience, being the governor elect is a milestone indeed. His plan to reinvent Michigan will hit the ground running, with the help of former rival Bernero. During the democrat’s concession speech, he said he was willing to work with the now governor elect on achieving parts of his 10-point plan, which includes ideas to work on not only jobs, but things like culture as well.
The night only got better for the conservative side of the fence after Bernero conceded. They held on to Jason Allen’s term-limited seat with Howard Walker in the 37th District. Greg MacMaster took over the 105th Michigan House of Representatives seat for another term-limited republican, Kevin Elsenheimer. They also gained ground the Democrats had before. Democrat Bart Stupak was replaced by republican Dan Benishek for a U.S. Congressional seat. Other big republican wins included Bill Schuette for attorney general and Ruth Johnson for secretary of state.
Overall, Michigan’s power shift included the governor, attorney general, secretary of state, three fourths of the senate and half the house are non-incumbants, the biggest shift of the Michigan political scene in nearly 20 years.
With these results, members of the GOP had plenty of reasons to celebrate Tuesday night. The Westin Book Cadillac hotel was packed with Snyder supporters to watch as the night played out and to celebrate the results. Music was periodically stopped to alert the partygoers of new republican victories and to cheer as positive results, like the election of Bob Young and Mary Beth Kelly to the Michigan Supreme Court, came in from the polls for the republicans.
Former Ann Arbor businessman Snyder had support from more than just the republicans, but some independants and democrats as well.
“Snyder is a businessman, not a career politician,” party attendee and engineer Dan Nickles said.
The self-proclaimed nerd and former CEO of Gateway took the stage with his family around 11 p.m. to formally accept his newest job.
“It is time to repair a broken culture, “ he said. “For us to be a great state, we need to start a belief in great items again.”
The future governor also promoted things like a positive attitude to help the state overcome its current issues that took center stage in the campaigns.
“It’s time to stop being negative and start being positive,” Snyder said. “It’s time to stop looking in the rearview mirror and look toward the future. It is time to stop being devisive and start being inclusive and win together as Michiganders.”
