Nationally, the election results were pretty good for conservatives, headlined by Matt Bevin's election as governor of Kentucky. Michigan results were less good.
State house:
District 80: Mary Whiteford 52%, Jim Storey 24%, Cindy Gamrat 9%, Bill Sage 8%
District 82: Gary Howell 26%, Jan Peabody 21%, Chris Tuski 21%, Ian Kempf 18%, Sharna Smith 5%, Todd Courser 4%
Gamrat and Courser were unsurprisingly crushed in their comeback attempt after being kicked out of the legislature. They put themselves above the cause and damaged the conservative movement across the state. They will be replaced by two establishment-friendly candidates. Notably, the state legislature finally passed a gas tax hike the night of the election.
Kalamazoo Homeless Tax: Passed 56-44
This passed thanks substantially to being placed on the ballot when Kalamazoo and Portage had other elections and most townships did not. The democrats who control the county commission will probably put more millages up in the future.
Kalamazoo Mayor: Hopewell 88%, Mbah 12%
Kalamazoo City Commission:
Elected: Cooney 62%, Anderson 61%, Sykes 51%, Knott 47%, Urban 39%, Milcarek 38.3%
Not elected: Cunningham 37.5%, Carter 27%, Dekker 14%, Hulbert 14%, Fletcher 14%, VanSweden 14%, Youngs 12%, Staten 9%, Milan 7%
Don Cooney finally made it to vice-mayor, bumping down David Anderson. The commission will lurch even further to the left, as relatively moderate Barb Miller and Bob Cinabro will be replaced by Shannon Sykes, social justice consultant, and Erin Knott, Obamacare enrollment organizer. Jack Urban was reelected, and Matt Milcarek bumped appointed commissioner Eric Cunningham out of office. With this group running the show, Kalamazoo will probably have an emergency manager in a few years. Mitt Romney got 7280 votes in Kalamazoo, but Republicans Hulbert and Youngs didn't find a way to turn them out to vote. VanSweden got 1073 votes despite dropping out.
Portage City Council:
Elected: Randall 59%, Pearson 52%, Ford 48%
Not elected: Bright 32%, Earl 25%
The status quo won in Portage, as the Randall faction reelected all three incumbents up this time. Turnout was very high (31%) due to the school millages. Those millages passed with 64% and 56%, so Portage taxpayers will be supporting new schools and football stadiums for years to come.
