United States Senate election in Michigan, 2008

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United States Senate election in Michigan, 2008
← 2002 November 4, 2008 2014 →
  Carl Levin official portrait.jpg Jackhoogendyk.jpg
Nominee Carl Levin Jack Hoogendyk
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 3,038,386 1,641,070
Percentage 62.7% 33.8%
200px
County results
U.S. senator before election

Carl Levin
Democratic

 Elected U.S. Senator

Carl Levin
Democratic
Elections in Michigan
Seal of Michigan.svg
This box:

The 2008 United States Senate election in Michigan was held on November 4, 2008[1] Incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Carl Levin won re-election to a sixth term.

Candidates

Democratic

Republican

Libertarian

Green

  • Harley Mikkelson

U.S. Taxpayers

  • Michael Nikitin

Natural Law

  • Doug Dern

Campaign

Levin's 2002 opponent Andrew Raczkowski considered running again, but military commitments forced him to drop out. State representative Jack Hoogendyk declared his candidancy to challenge Levin.[2] Troy engineer Bart Baron was also running.[3] Baron apparently failed to qualify for the August 5, 2008 party primary ballot in the Michigan Secretary of State's office. So only Hoogendyk was listed on the Republican side in the Michigan primary election.[4] Levin was unopposed on the Democratic side. The filing deadline for candidates to run was May 13.[5]

Minor party candidates who ran included Harley Mikkelson of the Green Party, Scotty Boman of the Libertarian Party,[6] Michael Nikitin of the U.S. Taxpayers Party[7] and Doug Dern of the Natural Law Party. Levin, who maintained a huge fundraising advantage over his opponents,[8] easily won re-election.

Polling

Poll Source Dates administered Carl Levin (D) Jack Hoogendyk (R)
Rasmussen Reports October 8, 2008 61% 36%
Public Policy Polling September 29 - October 1, 2008 50% 32%
Strategic Vision September 22–24, 2008 57% 29%
Detroit News September 14–17, 2008 56% 28%
Rasmussen Reports September 18, 2008 57% 38%
Strategic Vision September 5–7, 2008 58% 28%
Public Policy Polling September 6–7, 2008 51% 36%
EPIC-MRA/Detroit News August 18–21, 2008 59% 27%
Public Policy Polling(PPP) July 23–27, 2008 54% 35%
Rasmussen Reports July 10, 2008 59% 36%
Public Policy Polling June 21–22, 2008 54% 32%
Rasmussen Reports June 11, 2008 55% 35%
Rasmussen Reports May 7, 2008 54% 37%

Debates

On November 19 WGVU Public television hosted a Senatorial debate to which only Democratic Senator Carl Levin and Republican State Representative Jack Hoogendyk were invited.[9] They debated topics such as the economy, immigration,[10] and foreign policy.[11] [12]

Levin blamed job loss in Michigan on President Bush, while Hoogendyk blamed Levin.[12] Levin supported a Federal bailout of the auto industry, while Hoogendyk opposed the idea.[9]

The event, which was moderated by WZZM TV 13's News anchor Peter Ross, was met with protest by supporters of excluded candidates.[10][13] One of the protesters was Libertarian candidate Scotty Boman, who asserted that he met the stations qualifications. WGVU required the candidates to show at least 5% support in a statewide scientific poll, but Boman said no statewide poll had been done that included him.[13][14] An exclusive WXYZ poll included all of the candidates, but only contacted respondents in the 7th and 9th Congressional district.[15] Boman also claimed that public broadcasters should have invited the other candidates since it is supported with tax dollars.[13]

Senator Carl Levin and State Representative Jack Hoogendyk met again, the following day (October 20), for a forum hosted by the Detroit Economic Club.[10]

Results

Levin was declared the winner right when the polls closed in Michigan. Levin won all but six of Michigan's 83 counties. Levin unsurprisingly won major metropolitan areas, such as Wayne County home of Detroit or Ingham County home of Lansing. When combining the suburban and rural counties, it was just too much for the Republicans to come back from.

General election results[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Carl Levin (Incumbent) 3,038,386 62.7 +2.1
Republican Jack Hoogendyk 1,641,070 33.8 -4.1
Libertarian Scotty Boman 76,347 1.6 n/a
Green Harley Mikkelson 43,440 0.9 +0.1
U.S. Taxpayers Michael Nikitin 30,827 0.6 n/a
Natural Law Doug Dern 18,550 0.4 +0.1
Majority 1,397,316
Turnout 4,848,620
Democratic hold Swing

References

  1. ↑ Terri Lynn Land, Secretary of State."2008 Official Michigan General Candidate Listing". Michigan.gov (website).
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Terri Lynn Land, Secretary of State."2008 Official Michigan Primary Candidate Listing". Michigan.gov (website).
  5. ↑ Terri Lynn Land, Secretary of State."August 5, 2008 Primary and November 4, 2008 General Election: Important Dates and Filing Deadlines". Michigan.gov (website).
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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