MICHIGAN
     Nov. 6, 2012 U.S. Senate                                    

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+Debbie Stabenow (D) i
2,735,826
58.80%
Pete Hoekstra (R)
1,767,386
37.98%
Scotty Boman (L) 84,480
1.82%
Harley Mikkelson (G)
27,890
0.60%
Richard A. Matkin (USTP)
26,038
0.56%
John D. Little (NLP)
11,229
0.24%
write-ins (4)
69


4,652,918

Registered Voters: ???.  Total voters: 4,780,701.
Plurality: 968,440 votes (20.81 percentage points).

 MI Secretary of State




Notes: 
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) was elected to a third term, defeating former U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R) and four third party candidates by a comfortable margin.

Republicans had a competitive primary.  Hoekstra, who started his career working for furniture manufacturer Herman Miller, first elected to Congress in 1992 representing the 2nd CD (Western MI). He served in the House for 18 years, including more than six years as ranking member and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.  He was also a co-founder of the House Tea Party Caucus.  In 2010 he ran for governor, finishing second to Rick Snyder in the Republican primary. 
In April 2011 Hoekstra said he would not challenge Stabenow, but he changed his mind and entered the race in July.  The other leading candidate was Clark Durant, an attorney, co-founder of Cornerstone Schools, who had run for U.S. Senate in 1990, had run for the Michigan Supreme Court, and was elected to the Michigan State Board of Education and served as president.  Durant announced his candidacy on Aug. 18, 2011.  In the Aug. 7, 2012 primary, Hoekstra (54.27%) defeated Durant (33.57%), Randy Hekman (6.63%) and Gary Glenn (5.52%).  Meanwhile, Stabenow was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

After a debate over debates, there were no debates in this race.

Stabenow won with a margin of more than 20 percentage points; by comparison, in the presidential race in Michigan, Obama's margin over Romney was 9.50 percentage points.

The race was not competitive financially.  According to Open Secrets, the Stabenow campaign spent $13.4 million and finished with $1.1 million in cash on hand, while the Hoekstra campaign spent $5.5 million, and the Boman campaign a bit more than $10,000 (>).



Campaign Managers:
Debbie Stabenow: 
Dan Farough
(Jan. 2012)  Deputy state director to Sen. Stabenow, Jan. 2011-Jan. 2012.  Campaign manager on Gary Peters for Congress, Mar-Dec. 2010.  Media director for the Michigan House Democratic Caucus, Feb. 2009-Mar. 2010.  Executive director at Progress Michigan, Feb. 2007-Feb. 2009.  Communications director to the Speaker of the Michigan House, Jan.-Aug. 2007.  Press secretary to Michigan House Democratic Leader Dianne Byrum.  Political director for the Michigan Sierra Club, June 1998-June 2003.  Southeast Michigan director for Clean Water Action, 1996-98.  M.A. in political science from University of Toronto; B.A. in history from Michigan State University.
 
Pete Hoekstra:
  Greg VanWoerkom
(succeeded Ethan Eilon)  On leave from position as district director to U.S. Rep Bill Huizenga; started with him in Jan. 2011.   Worked in Hoekstra's congressional office for eight years starting Jan. 2003 as a staff assistant and finishing as public policy director.  Master's degree from Graduate School of Political Management, 2004; bachelor's degree in political science and public administration from Calvin University, 2002.

Ethan Eilon
(to Apr. 2012)  State director on Jon Huntsman's NH primary campaign to Aug. 2011.  Deputy campaign manager on the Buck for Colorado U.S. Senate campaign in Colorado, 2010.  Manager of political and grassroots affairs at the David All Group, 2009-10.  Executive director of the College Republican National Committee.  Victory organizational director for Bush-Cheney '04 in Colorado.  Degree in history from the University of Denver, 2007.  Chicago native.


See also:
Tim Martin.  "Michigan's U.S. Senate race continuing without formal debates between Stabenow, Hoekstra."  mlive.com, Oct. 11, 2012.




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