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Michigan’s 8th District: Slotkin defeats Bishop
Here's how Livingston, Ingham and Oakland counties voted in Tuesday's congressional election
Election results are in and in the 8th Congressional District newcomer Elissa Slotkin has narrowly unseated incumbent Congressman Mike Bishop.
The race in the district that stretches from Lansing to northern Oakland County has been among the most closely watched, and fiercely campaigned in the nation as Democrats set their sights on a U.S. House majority and hoped to add to their assembly with a Slotkin win.
In the Livingston, Ingham and portions of Oakland County neighborhoods within the 8th District, candidate Slotkin, 41, charged ahead in the final hours of vote tallying, garnering less than 1% of the voting majority.
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Scenes from Elissa Slotkin’s #election watch party in Clarkston, MI. @thesnews pic.twitter.com/dLNLRHBvx0
— Sylvia Jarrus (@JarrusSylvia) November" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/JarrusSylv... 7, 2018
The southeastern Michigan district has been held for newly two decades by Bishop, first elected to the seat in 2000. Recent polling projected Slotkin with a two point lead in the week leading up to the election.
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Projections remained too close to call throughout Tuesday evening and well into Wednesday morning. Slotkin campaign deputy communications director Hannah Lindow addressed Slotkin supporters, encouraging those that had gathered to watch the results come in, “While a lot of MSU has not yet reported, there’s one precinct at MSU where turnout is up 300 percent.”
Hannah Lindow, deputy communications manager for Slotkin, announces to the crowd that voter turnout at one of the precincts on MSU’s campus is up by 300 percent.
She said much of Ingham County is not reported yet, and young voters are important. @thesnews pic.twitter.com/leWuRbVMsK
Slotkin’s support grew in leaps and bounds following the August primary election, where Bishop had rallied 75,391 votes, or 92 percent of the Republican candidacy votes, obliterating Republican opponent Lokesh Kumar’s 6,2250 votes, and Democrat candidate Slotkin’s 57,817 midterm totals. Refusing to accept corporate PAC dollars, Slotkin ultimately outpaced Bishop in fundraising and endorsements, blowing past Bishop’s fundraising efforts by more than $3 million in total.
Prior to being elected to the U.S. House, Bishop was a Republican member and Majority Leader of the Michigan State Senate, representing the state's 12th Senate District, encompassing the eastern Detroit suburbs of Auburn Hills, Pontiac, Rochester and Rochester Hills.
Incumbent candidate Bishop endorsements include Police Officers Association of Michigan and Michigan Farm Bureau Agri-PAC.
2016 was candidate Slotkin’s first run for office. The north Oakland County resident is a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst and Obama administration public servant received bipartisan endorsements from organizations like Emily’s List, dozens of organized labor groups, Human Rights Campaign, Secretary Chuck Hagel, Former Secretary of Defense, Eric Fanning, Former Secretary of the U.S. Army, Former Vice President Joe Biden, and Former President Barack Obama.
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