You have to wonder what Shri Thanedar is thinking today. He spent up to $12 million dollars of his own money flooding the airwaves with brilliantly produced campaign commercials, all for nothing. He ended up finishing a bad third in the Democratic primary, winning less than one vote out of six. Some might attribute that to racism, but I don’t think so. He actually was leading in most polls before the other contenders got their ads up and running.
But during the debates, Thanedar revealed that he knew little to nothing of how government at any level works. He also told the Detroit Free Press he might run for President one day, a job for which he, as a native of India, is clearly ineligible.
When you look at what happened in that race, it is easy to conclude that the voters are informed and rational after all. Macomb County voters also approved, if narrowly, the SMART millage renewal, without which many citizens would be without anyway to get anywhere.
However, there were some odd and even shocking anomalies. State Senator David Knezek, a rising star in the Democratic Party, apparently decisively lost his renomination bid to one Betty Alexander, who few know anything about and who apparently did not campaign. State Senator Steve Bieda, a talented legislator whose integrity and ability are well-regarded by both parties, narrowly lost the Democratic nomination for Macomb County clerk. The winner was one Fred Miller, best known for losing to Karen Spranger two years ago.
Spranger was the once homeless woman who reduced the clerk’s office in one of Michigan’s largest counties to chaos before the courts removed her earlier this year.
Turnout was higher than expected – more than two million people voted, which was at least a quarter million more than most experts predicted. Turnout was higher on the Democratic side, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into victory in November.
Two things however are clear this morning. This is shaping up to be something of the year of the woman. Assuming Brenda Lawrence and Debbie Dingell are reelected, they will be joined by at least two more women in Michigan’s congressional delegation: Rashida Tlaib, who won the Democratic nomination to succeed John Conyers, has essentially no opposition in November. She will also be the first Muslim woman in Congress.
Both winners of the congressional primaries in the 11h district, Republican Lena Epstein and Democrat Haley Stevens are women. If Elissa Slotkin defeats Republican Mike Bishop, five of Michigan’s 14 members of Congress could be female, not counting Senator Debbie Stabenow.
On top of that, the Democratic nominees for Governor, attorney general, and secretary of state are also all women. But something else is abundantly clear too, and it was put most eloquently by Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley, after he had lost the gubernatorial nomination to Bill Schuette. “The reality is that this is President Trump’s Republican Party. His chosen candidates win Republican primaries. We see it happening all across the country,” he said.
Calley was gracious, not bitter, and he called it exactly right. Donald Trump and his supporters now are the GOP. But they are less than half the population.
What happens here and elsewhere in November will say a lot about who we are as a people and a nation.
