Ballotpedia's 2012 General Election Preview Articles: Michigan State Legislature

October 31, 2012

By Ballotpedia's State legislative team

Michigan's State Legislative Elections in 2012
Senate seats	Contested senate seats	House seats	Contested house seats
0	-	110	108 (98.1%)

LANSING: Michigan: There are 110 total legislative seats with 2012 elections in Michigan, where all polls will be open in the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM Eastern and Central times.

Michigan is split between Eastern and Central time zones.

The State Senate has no seats up for election this year. The 110-seat House of Representatives is 63-47 in favor of the Republicans. The 18 retiring incumbents are split evenly between the two parties. With such a large majority it would seem the Democrats are unlikely to take control of the chamber, but Michigan has a history of large swings in previous elections.

Of the 110 incumbents up for election in 2012, 92 (83.6%) of them are running for re-election. A total of 108 of 110 (98.1%) districts will see more than one major party candidate in the general election.

Here are a few races to watch:

General election

House

• District 25: Democrat Henry Yanez battles Republican Sean Clark for the seat vacated by Incumbent Democrat Jon M. Switalski who is running in another district. Since Democrats need 11 new seats to gain a majority, races for open seats such as this one are crucial.
• District 71: Republican Deb Shaughnessy faces Democrat Theresa Abed in a rematch of 2010 election when Shaughnessy won by 6,000 votes.
• District 76: Incumbent Roy Schmidt initially filed as a Democrat, but then withdrew and filed as a Republican at the request of the GOP Speaker. Winnie Brinks is running to reclaim the seat for the Democrats as a write-in candidate, and Schmidt faces additional competition from Republican write-in candidate Bing Goei.

Michigan House of Representatives
Party		As of November 5, 2012	After the 2012 Election
	Democratic Party	47	51
	Republican Party	63	59
Total		110	110

Articles

• 2012 elections review: Few incumbents defeated in Michigan August 8
• 2012 elections preview: Michigan voters to select winners in congressional, legislative primaries August 6

See also

• Ballotpedia's 2012 General Election Preview Articles: Michigan Congressional Seats
• Ballotpedia:2012 general election preview articles
• State legislative elections, 2012
• Michigan elections, 2012

• Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2012