By Carol Hopkins
For the Daily Tribune

Oakland County Republicans and Democrats chose their nominees for five state Senate seats in Tuesday’s primary.

All 38 Senate seats were up for election and 30 had no incumbent.

All precincts had not been counted at press time.

In Oakland County, only one incumbent — John Pappageorge —sought re-election and he faced two primary challengers. The other four were open seats created by term limits and those drew strong candidate interest.

In the 13th district, which includes Troy, Clawson, Royal Oak, Madison Heights, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township, incumbent Republican John Pappageorge of Troy led with 17,963 votes with 92 of 125 precincts reporting followed by David R. Kniffen of Troy with 3,365 and Roi Chinn of Bloomfield Hills with 1,848. The winner faces Democrat Aaron Bailey of Royal Oak in November.

“The good news is nobody (got) nasty in the campaign,” said Pappageorge, who said he met with opponents to talk about ethics before the race began.

“In elections there is the tendency to tell a small truth to tell a bigger lie,” he said.

Pappageorge said he worked hard for the primary.

In the 14th district, three Republicans and six Democrats vied to replace term-limited Sen. Gilda Jacobs, D-Huntington Woods. With 63 precincts counted, Republican Michael A. Peters of Farmington Hills had 3,274 votes, Robert A. Vaughan, 2,131, and James Hardin of Southfield, 1.572.

State Rep. Vince Gregory of Southfield led with 5,897 votes, Democratic County Commissioner Dave Coulter of Ferndale had  5,039, Jenifer Marlene Franklin, 2,385, Howard Worthy, 599, Derhun Daniel Sanders, 574, and Anthony Stafford McDonald, 517. Continued...

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Coulter called the campaign “energizing, long and hard-fought.”

He said while jobs were on voters’ minds, “the issue that surprised me was schools and education. They were much higher on people’s lists because schools are closing and teachers are being laid off.”

Gregory said he knocked on doors, called voters and sent out mailings.

“We did everything we wanted to do,” he said.

The district includes Farmington, Farmington Hills, Southfield, Franklin, Bingham Farms, Beverly Hills, Southfield Township, Lathrup Village, Berkley, Huntington Woods, Oak Park, Royal Oak Township, Pleasant Ridge, Ferndale and Hazel Park.

In the 12th district — which includes Keego Harbor, Sylvan Lake, Pontiac, Lake Angelus, Auburn Hills, Rochester Hills, Rochester and townships of Independence, Orion, Oxford, Addison and Oakland — six Republicans and two Democrats campaigned to replace term-limited Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop of Rochester.

With 14 precincts reporting, Republican term-limited state Rep. Jim Marleau of Lake Orion led challengers with 1,799, closely followed by Copper Rizzo of Rochester Hills at 1,573, Kim Russell of Rochester, 1,432, former state Rep. John Garfield of Rochester Hills at 559, Gene Taliercio of Rochester Hills with 497 and Lois Golden of Rochester Hills, 189.

Democrat Casandra Ulbrich was leading Ted Golden 1,195 to 216. Both are from Rochester Hills.

In the 15th district, six Republicans and three Democrats vied to succeed term-limited Sen. Nancy Cassis, R-Novi.

Republican Kerry Bentivolio of Milford had 1,920, Paul Graves of Milford, 1,060, White Lake Township Supervisor Mike Kowall 5,975, John Cyrus Mohyi of West Bloomfield, 633, Alan Stephens of Milford, 1,070 and Steven Valentini of Novi, 774. Continued...

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Kowall also said that if elected he would work on changing the single business tax to make the state more inviting for businesses to expand.

Democrats vying for a spot on the ballot in November were Tom Crawford of Milford, with 788 votes, Pam Jackson of Commerce Township at 2,801 and Christopher P. Maloney of Northville, 785.

The district includes the townships of Holly, Rose, Highland, White Lake, Milford, Lyon, Commerce and West Bloomfield plus Novi, Wixom, Walled Lake, Wolverine Lake, Orchard Lake, South Lyon and part of Northville.

In the 26th district, four Republicans and three Democrats campaigned to succeed term-limited Democrat Sen. Deb Cherry of Genesee County.

Republican David B. Robertson of Grand Blanc led with 467, Fran Amos of Waterford, 160, Michael Matheny of Grand Blanc, 92, and Tim Terpening of Davisburg, 50.

Democrat Katherine Houston of Ortonville had 63 votes from Oakland County, Jim Slezak of Davison, 59 and Paula Zelenko of Burton, 47.

The district represents Waterford, Springfield, Groveland and Brandon townships, plus all or parts of nine other townships in Genesee County.

 

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