County support for GOP outpaces state. Collegian Staff
Three out of every four Hillsdale County voters supported Donald Trump on Tuesday, and the former president won Michigan’s 15 electoral votes with 49.8% of the statewide vote.
Former Republican congressman Mike Rogers won 72% of the county’s vote in his bid for the Senate, but he lost statewide to Democrat Elissa Slotkin, 48.3% to 48.6%.
“Locally, we‘re ecstatic with the results that we‘ve seen,” said 5th District County Commissioner Brent Leininger, a Republican. “I’m a little disappointed in the local vote for Mike Rogers. The local partisan races were pretty much all guaranteed to be Republicans beforehand, but it’s just great to see the results. I’m even more pleased with the voter turnout.”
Seventy-seven percent of Hillsdale County voters cast ballots, which is 15.5% higher than the county’s voter turnout in 2020.
Michigan Supreme Court candidate and current state Rep. Andrew Fink ’06 lost his race to Kimberly Thomas 61% to 39%. In Hillsdale County, Fink claimed 66% of the vote with Thomas receiving 33%.
Republicans captured the Michigan House of Representatives. State Sen. Jonathan Lindsey, R-Coldwater, said retaking the state house is a huge victory for Republicans and the people of Michigan.
“It is incredibly good news for the people of Michigan that Republicans have regained the state house,” Lindsey said. “After two years of unchecked extremism from the Democrats, the people of Michigan will now have a legislative body that can stand up for all of us. Much more needs to be done, but this is a positive step.”
State Sen. Joe Bellino, R-Monroe, said the Republican strategy paid off across Michigan as they took control of the state House.
“I was thoroughly impressed and enjoyed last night because we won a lot of seats that we targeted and we want to turn over in the state that we wanted to flip,” Bellino said. “We flipped four of them. We had eight in play, the other four really close, but we did a great job taking back the state House.”
Belino said the election is evidence that people in Michigan were dissatisfied with Democratic policies.
“Nothing done by the Democrats the last few years to help grow the economy or grow the population of Michigan,” Bellino said. “And yesterday‘s vote was 100% on our side, saying, ‘Your policies are wrong. Start changing them, or we‘re going to vote more people out of office.’ I thought it was a heartfelt message from the electorate, and they used their hammer and they used it wisely.”
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