MICHIGAN
      Nov. 6, 2018 Governor

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+Gretchen Whitmer/Garlin D. Gilchrist II (D)
 2,266,193
 53.31%
Bill Schuette/Lisa Posthumus Lyons (R)
 1,859,534
 43.75%
Bill Gelineau/Angelique Chaiser Thomas (L)
 56,606
 1.33%
Todd Schleiger//Earl P. Lackie (USTP)
 29,219
 0.69%
Jennifer Kurland/Charin H. Davenport (G)
 28,799
 0.68%
Keith Bulkovich/Raymond Warner (NLP)
 10,202
 0.24%
write-ins
 32

4,250,585
Registered voters: 6,488,823.  Total voters: 4,341,340.
Plurality: 406,659 votes (9.56 percentage points).
 MI Secretary of State



DEMOCRATIC PICK UP
Notes: The race to succeed term-limited Gov. Rick Snyder (R) resulted in a Democratic pick up as former state Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D) defeated Attorney General Bill Schuette (R) and four other candidates.

Whitmer most recently finished a six month stint as Ingham County Prosecutor; after serving in the Michigan Senate (2006-14) and earlier in the Michigan House (2000-06) representing East Lansing.  Schuette was elected Attorney General in 2010; earlier he was an elected judge on the Michigan Fourth District Court of Appeals and served in the Michigan Senate.  In 1990 he ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate after serving three terms in the U.S. House (first elected  in 1984).

Both parties had competitive primaries on Aug. 7.  Whitmer won with 52.01% over former Detroit health director Abdul El-Sayed (30.24%) and entrepreneur/ research scientist Shri Thanedar (17.73%).  Shuette garnered 50.72%, defeating Lt. Gov. Brian Calley (25.18%), Patrick Colbeck (13.10%) and Jim Hines (10.99%).

On Aug. 15 Schuette announced  Lisa Posthumus Lyons, Kent Co. clerk and register of deeds and a former state legislator as his running mate; days later on Aug. 19 Whitmer announced Garlin Gilchrist II as her running mate.  Gilchrist served as director of innovation and emerging technology for the City of Detroit and ran for City Clerk in 2017.

Whitmer and Schuette participated in two televised debates: in Grand Rapids on Oct. 12 (>) and in Detroit on Oct. 24 (>).

The Michigan Campaign Finance Network (>) reported that the two major candidate's committees raised a total of $23.3 million: $13.3 million for Whitmer from launch in Jan. 2017 and $10.0 million for Schuette from launch in Sept. 2017.  They also received significant amounts in public funding for the primary campaigns: $929,395 for Whitmer and  $404,482 for Schuette.  MCFN reports that outside groups weighed in with several tens of millions of dollars more.  Topping the list were the 527 group A Stronger America, aligned with the DGA ($8.77 million), and the RGA through its Michigan super PAC ($4.7 million) and nonprofit State Solutions ($1.48 million) (>).
Campaign Managers:
Gretchen Whitmer:  Eric Goldman
(Mar. 2018)  Previously campaign manager on Connie Pillich for Governor of Ohio, 2017-Feb. 2018.  Campaign manager on Santasiero fo Congress (PA-8) in 2016.

Goldman was Whitmer's third campaign manager; she started with Jerid Kurtz (Mar.-Aug. 2017) then Keenan Pontoni who resigned in Feb. 2018.


Bill Schuette:  Lori Wortz
Consultant at Strategy Works Agency formerly WWP Strategies from 2007.  Consultant to  Mitt Romney's 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.  Partner at Sterling, 1998-2008.  Chief of staff in the Michigan Senate for the Senate Majority Leader, 1990-98. 

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