Gov. Whitmer Wins Re-election Race Over Dixon in Michigan Senate Race
Enlarge this image toggle caption David Goldman/AP David Goldman/AP
Updated at 5:00 p.m. ET
Michigan voters went to the polls Tuesday to choose who will fill the remaining two years of the term of the Democratic governor who is under fire over a botched investigation into the Flint water crisis.
Incumbent Democratic state Sen. Coleman Young is the only candidate on the ballot for his U.S. Senate seat and he was widely viewed as a strong favorite to win, which seemed improbable at a time when Republican President Trump was being impeached.
But Young, whose bid to avoid a first-term bid for higher office in 2020 was derailed by his sexual assault scandal, rallied his supporters with a final rally last week in Detroit.
In a final twist Tuesday afternoon, Young opted to switch his party registration from Democrat to Republican in order to appear on the ballot as an unregistered write-in candidate.
His decision to switch parties, a move that is required of unregistered candidates, was not widely publicized and caused some confusion among the more than 60,000 Michigan voters who cast ballots for Young and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer.
“I’m writing in Coleman Young,” wrote an employee named Kym about her decision to switch parties.
“I’m voting for a write-in candidate – it’s Coleman I want as our governor,” wrote a voter in Grosse Pointe Park.
“I’m a Democrat,” wrote a voter in Port Huron. “If I live in a swing district… I have to vote for the Democratic nominee.”
On Nov. 6, Young was elected by Michigan’s Senate as the first Democrat to hold that seat in 100 years. Young won the primary with 46 percent of the vote, with Whitmer, who is up for re-election next month in a district she’s long held, taking 39 percent. There were eight write-in candidates on the ballot, four of whom were Republicans.