2010 Primary Races to Watch

It's election day. Make sure to vote. This blog will discuss results after the polls close. Here are some of the races of interest around the state.

2010 Election Preview

6 House races to watch
Senate races to watch
House races to watch

Governor: Obviously. Will it be Cox, Hoekstra, or Snyder on the Republican side? Dillon or Bernero for the democrats?

Congress:
1. Allen or Benishek? Establishment or Tea Party?
2. Kuipers/Huizinga/Riemersma/Cooper. Which conservative will win?
3. Hardiman/Heacock/Amash. Conservatives root for Amash.
6. Upton/Hoogendyk. Will Jack do better or worse than Dale Shugars eight years ago?
7. Walberg or Rooney? Walberg is a conservative champion.
9. Welday or Rachowski?
12. Can Switalski topple Sander Levin?
13. Will Carolyn Kilpatrick finally be defeated by Hansen Clarke?

State Senate:
7. Munfakh/Colbeck/Whyman/Osterman. Endorsements split in this race.
10. Paul Gieleghem versus Carl Marlinga for the democrats.
11. Drolet/Meltzer/Brandenberg. Bloody primary.
12. Marleau/Garfield/Rizzo/Russell. Marleau is the favorite.
18. Byrnes v. Warren for the democrats.
20. See below.
25. Pavlov/Hager/Courser. Two state reps and Tea Party.
29. Lagrand v. Dean for the democrats.
33. Calley/Trebesh. Can self-funding elect Trebesh?

State House:
61. Can democrat Grant Taylor beat Thomas Batten as a write-in? This blog says be doesn't get more than 20%.
79. Can Tea Party guy Paul Petersen beat Upton staffer Al Pscholka?
80. Will conservative Aric Nesbitt beat the competition?
87. Will Mike Callton beat his opponents?

20th senate district
On the Republican side, each of Larry Deshazor, Tonya Schuitmaker, Lorence Wenke could plausibly win. Tonya and Wenke have been hammering each other with negative ads accusing each other of being tax/spend/borrow/regulators, more or less correctly. Tonya has most establishment support, but geography is against her. Wenke has money. DeShazor has geography. Will voters sick of negative ads back him? It's possible. Similar things have happened in the South Dakota governor race in 2002 and in California 3 in 2004.

On the democrat side, Mark Totten has spent a small fortune attacking state rep. Robert Jones. He has attacked Jones on the arena tax, Colony Farm Orchard, and prescription drug liability. Only the first would seem to be a clear winner even in a democrat primary. Some observers think Totten will win, but this blog doesn't see him getting more than 1/3 of the vote.

Kansas: Go Todd Tiahrt, Tim Huelskamp, and Mike Pompeo!