Election Results

In the 61st district, Larry DeShazor won by 340 votes. He had 49% to Margaret O'Brien's 45% and David Yardley's 6%. He will face democrat Julie Rogers in November. More detailed analysis of this race will follow.

District 88: Conservative Bob Genetski beat fellow conservative Todd Boorsma by 70 votes. Both had 25%, and were followed by conservative Josh Leatherman's 20%, and moderate Shelley Edgerton's 13%. Four others had less than 10% each. Genetski will be safe in November.

District 58: Ken Kurtz appears to have won with 34% over Don Shemel with 335 and two others.

District 59: Matt Lori won an easy victory with 54% over two opponents. He will be safe in November.

District 62: Greg Moore won with 64% over Susan Baldwin. He will face democrat Kate Segal, who won with 68% over Tim Nendorf.

District 78: Sharon Tyler, who got the Right to Life endorsement, won with 41% over Bill Baber with 36% and two others.

8th District Judge: Bill Murphy and Julie Phillips will move on to the general election. Murphy had 34%, Phillips had 29%, Jeff Gagie had 21%, and Sondra Nowak had 16%. Murphy and Phillips, the two more conservative candidates, definitely benefited from higher turnout of Republicans. Gagie was hurt by controversy over retracted abuse allegations during his divorce. Nowak wasn't helped by an endorsement by liberal former state rep. and judge Alexander Lipsey.

Kalamazoo County Sheriff: Republican Michael Anderson was easily renominated with 80%. He will face democrat Richard Fuller in November.

County commission: In district 6, democrat Franklin Thompson again defeated challenger Larry Stieglitz by more than 2:1. In district 12, Chris Haenicke beat Scott Zondervan. In district 15, Ann Niewenhuis defeated Derek Robinson, who had dropped out. Districts 12 and 15 will be closely contested in November, as Republicans seek to oust democrats who defeated Republican incumbents in 2006.

Kalamazoo Township Supervisor: Justin VanderArk defeated his opponents by a significant margin. He will face a very tough fight in November. Justin touted his conservative credentials during his campiagn.

Texas Township Supervisor: Dave Healy won this race by a significant margin over incumbent Ron Commassaris. He is unopposed in November.

Oshtemo Township Supervisor: Bob Brink defeated Charles Hill in this race. Brink had more name recognition and more yard signs. He evidently was not hurt much by past support for a "gay-rights" ordinance which was made an issue by a conservative family values group.

Comstock Township: Trustee Bill Shields was recalled while also being renominated as a Republican. Democrat Supervisor Tim Hudson was easily renominated and will face Republican Sue Fritz in the fall.

In Van Buren County, Larry DeShazor's campaign manager Jef Walls lost his bid for county commission.