2018 Michigan gubernatorial election


The Michigan gubernatorial election of 2018 took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the next Governor of Michigan, concurrently with the election of Michigan's Class I U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections.
Incumbent Republican Governor Rick Snyder was term-limited and was unable to seek a third term in office. The filing deadline was April 24, 2018. The Republican, Democratic and Libertarian parties chose their nominees in a partisan primary on August 7, 2018. 2018 was the first year the Libertarian Party held a gubernatorial primary alongside the two other major parties in the state of Michigan. The Working Class Party, U.S. Taxpayers Party, Green Party and Natural Law Party chose their nominees at state party conventions.
Democrat Gretchen Whitmer was elected with 53.3% of the vote.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominated

Debates

Polling

Hypothetical polling---------

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominated

Debates

Polling

Hypothetical polling------------

Results

Libertarian primary

The Libertarian Party is one of three parties that have a primary in Michigan.

Candidates

Nominated

  • Bill Gelineau

    Eliminated in Primary

  • John Tatar

    Endorsements

Debates

Results

Green Convention

The Green Party chose candidates for the 2018 ballot at its state convention on May 5, 2018, at the University of Michigan-Flint.

Candidates

Declared & Nominated

  • Jennifer Kurland, president of the Redford Union School Board

    U.S. Taxpayers Party

Candidates

Declared & Nominated

  • Todd Schleiger

    Natural Law Party

Candidates

Declared & Nominated

  • Keith Butkovich

    General election

Predictions

;Notes

Endorsements

Polling

Hypothetical polling-------

;with Bill Schuette and Abdul El-Sayed

Fundraising

Debates

Two televised debates between Schuette and Whitmer were scheduled. The first debate was held on Friday, October 12 hosted by Grand Rapids television station WOOD-TV. That debate mainly concentrated on issues and there were no surprises or major errors from either candidate. The second debate was hosted by Detroit television station WDIV and was held on Wednesday, October 24. The two again clashed on various issues, but Schuette made a gaffe when he mixed up Whitmer's name with that of former governor Jennifer Granholm.

Campaign

While Whitmer's Democratic primary opponents publicly endorsed Whitmer in the general election, Republican nominee Schuette left the party split after the acrimonious battle with lieutenant governor Calley with outgoing governor Rick Snyder refusing to endorse Schuette. Schuette also tried to hide his endorsement by Donald Trump from the primary in the general election. His actions as attorney general also came back to haunt him. Whitmer held consistent leads in polls over Schuette over the entire year.

Results

The election was not close, with Whitmer winning by about ten points. Schuette performed best in smaller, less populated counties, while Whitmer ran up huge margins in the major cities, such as Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Lansing. Whitmer also performed well in the Detroit suburbs. She even succeeded in carrying Grand Rapids’ Kent County, the first time a Democratic candidate did so since James Blanchard's 1986 reelection. Democrats swept the statewide races by holding onto the Senate seat that was up for re-election, and picked up the governor's mansion, the secretary of state, and the attorney general positions. They also captured every state university trustee seat that was up for election as well as the State Board of Education.

By congressional district

Gov. Whitmer won 7 of 14 congressional districts.
DistrictSchuetteWhitmerRepresentative
53%44%-
53%44%Jack Bergman
52%43%Bill Huizenga
48.6%48.2%Justin Amash
55%42%John Moolenaar
40%57%Dan Kildee
48.4%48.2%Fred Upton
51%46%Tim Walberg
46%51%Mike Bishop
46%51%Elissa Slotkin
38%59%Sander Levin
38%59%Andy Levin
56%41%-
56%41%Paul Mitchell
46%52%Dave Trott
46%52%Haley Stevens
30%67%Debbie Dingell
16%81%Brenda Jones
18%80%Brenda Lawrence

OWIKI.org. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.