Republicans sweep Michigan’s top posts, control both houses
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| Voters register at Salina School on Dearborn’s south end on election day this past Tuesday, Nov. 2. AAPAC volunteers passed out voting slates that could be taken into the voting booth. The top three Michigan posts were won by Republicans but Democrats did well locally. PHOTO: Nafeh AbuNab/American Elite Studios |
Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder took down a field that included Democratic challenger Virg Bernero, winning by a 58% to 40% margin. Snyder will take over for outgoing governor Jennifer Granholm in January.
Other top Republican winners included Bill Schuette, who won the attorney general post over Democrat David Leyton by a total of 53% to 43%, and Ruth Johnson, who defeated Democrat Jocelyn Benson for secretary of state by a total of 51% to 45%.
The trio will have the benefit of working with a Michigan House and Senate that both will have Republican numbers advantages at 63-47 and 26-12 respectively.
Members of Snyder’s transition team, already announced, include three veterans of state government from the John Engler administration, which ended prior to Granholm’s 2003 inauguration.
Dingell, Hood among notable winners
The Dearborn-based Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) once again released its voting slate prior to the elections, and slates were passed out at polls in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights. Robo calls were also made and slates were mailed to Arab American voters in battleground areas as well.
Many of the organization’s top candidates had strong showings, including Democrat John Dingell, the current Dean of the U.S. House in the 15th District, and Morris Hood, who won in the 3rd District for State Senator. Dingell held off a challenge from Republican Rob Steele while Hood beat Republican Doug Mitchell.
Long-time U.S. Representative and Democratic AAPAC endorsee John Conyers also maintained control of his seat with a 77% to 20% overall win against Republican challenger Don Ukrainec.
In the race for an open Dearborn Heights City Council seat, Kathy Abdel-Hak, endorsed by AAPAC, lost to Ned Apigian by a total of 54% to 45% after losing by just 40 votes in the primary.
AAPAC endorseees won 33 of 47 seats with most of the wins coming locally, however, a testament to its strong influence.
Volunteers at River Oaks School in Dearborn Heights said that a good portion of voters took the AAPAC slate in with them to vote and that both Arabs and non-Arabs alike were included among them.
Forty-nine-year-old Safi Taha of Dearborn voted at McDonald school using an AAPAC slate.
“I’ve trusted AAPAC since day one, and this election is definitely important,” he said. “Every election, even the non-presidential ones, is just as important as the other ones.”
Turnout low both statewide and locally
Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land said the 45% turnout in Michigan was lower than she’d hoped for by 500,000 or so votes.
Many analysts said that Democrats’ refusal to go to the polls was the main reason for their candidates’ defeats, however.
In the city of Dearborn, the turnout ended up at 43%, 10% lower than City Clerk Kathleen Buda’s projections.
“I thought the open state rep. race would get more voters out, especially since it involved two of our council members,” said Buda. “How unfortunate that (only) well under half of our electorate chose to voice the only opinion that truly matters on election day.
“It was also unfortunate that the campaign turned so negative.”
Negative campaign ads seemed to be the trend across the nation in 2010, which may have caused some voters to become disenfranchised according to analysts.
Turnouts on the east side of the city, which has the highest concentration of Arab Americans, were lower than the west side yet again.
William Ford School near Chase and Ford Roads had a turnout of just over 25% in the 12th Precinct as one of the highest marks in the area, but most east side locations like Maples School and McDonald School checked in at about 19-23% on average.
AAPAC volunteers help out on Election Day
At the conclusion of what was a long day for over 80 AAPAC volunteers, ranging from 14 years old to adult ages, a gathering was held at Habib’s Restaurant in Dearborn to watch the results unfold on televions and via cell Internet updates.
Despite some of the key statewide losses, AAPAC officials reminded the volunteers about the effectiveness of their help locally.
“Everyone here is invited for the next AAPAC dinner because we want you to see the judges and politicians who have been coming here for our support,” said The Arab American News Publisher and AAPAC Spokesman Osama Siblani.
“Look at how many people made it that we supported,” he added, citing the example of the win by James Schoolmaster over Roxanne McDonald for a position on the Dearborn School Board as the results came in. Schoolmaster won by just 21 votes in a close race.
AAPAC member Fadwa Alawieh talked about the commitment of the volunteers, many of whom began working early in the morning at the polls to rally support.
“Some of them have been out since 7 a.m; they’ve stood in the cold and they have not complained at all,” she said.
“We’ve seen a lot of new faces today and some of them are from out-of-state, they’ve read about AAPAC and asked how they can help,” she said.
“A lot of volunteers can’t even vote yet but they’re still not happy about the lack of votes from the older generation affecting the overall totals, which is an unfortunate shame, really.
“Every year people realize more and more about the importance of election day just by the volunteer process and it helps educate the youth on these issues; now they’re advocating what they’ve learned and that’s really crucial.”
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