Michigan Primary Update: The Michigan Primary is tomorrow Tuesday August 2nd and the most closely watched races are the two congressional primaries taking place in MI-1 and MI-10.
MI-1: The first congressional district of Michigan began with State Senator Tom Casperson as a strong frontrunner. Casperson was the only candidate running who currently represented any area in the congressional district and led in fundraising for the initial quarters. He was easily labeled as the most liberal Republican congressional candidate anywhere in America because of his opposition to Right to Work, support for Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion, and support for the Gas Tax increase. Liberal labor unions came in to support Casperson with $150,000 in the last couple of weeks and they may have been the beginning of the end for his campaign. He even appeared at public fundraisers with liberal union leadership. Conservative groups responded with an equal amount of funding attacking Casperson for his liberal voting record. The final week of the campaign Casperson was inundated with problems from his outright lying, dishonest campaign ads, and being labeled the mot liberal state senator in Michigan three years in a row by the American Conservative Union. As a result, the Casperson campaign has imploded as his unfavorable numbers skyrocketed. Casperson supporters have to be questioning the campaign’s decision making and specifically their association with liberal labor unions in a GOP Primary.
MI-10: The tenth congressional district of Michigan began with Senator Phil Pavlov as a strong frontrunner. He received most of the supposedly important endorsements in the district and seemed to be on track for an easy victory. His main opponent Paul Mitchell surgically dissected Pavlov and is on track for a big win in the home of Reagan Democrats with strong support from Macomb County. Mitchell was unsuccessful in the 4th congressional district race in 2014 but has come on strong in the years since with a historic victory against Proposal 1 and now on the verge of winning the congressional primary.
The big stories coming out of Michigan tomorrow seem to be the utter implosions of the early frontrunners in the congressional primaries: State Senators Tom Casperson and Phil Pavlov. Watch for big upsets.
