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Long
night
yields
expected
results,
few
upsets
By Karen
Hudson
Samuels/Tell
Us
Detroit
DETROIT
(Tell Us
Det) -
U.S.
Rep.
Gary
Peters
won a
faceoff
with
Hansen
Clarke
which
leaves
Detroit
without
two
black
members
of
Congress
for the
first
time in
nearly a
half-century.
Fewer
than
fifty
Clarke
supporters
left the
Burton
Theater
in
Detroit
at about
midnight
without
hearing
a
concession
speech.
A senior
staff
member,
said
Clarke
“was
with his
family”
and
would
have a
statement
Wednesday.
John
Conyers
- one of
the
founders
of the
Congressional
Black
Caucus -
easily
survived
a
crowded
primary
fight of
his own.
The
broad
field he
ran
against
was
Conyers’
biggest
ally due
to other
candidates
splitting
the
vote.
Former
U.S.
Rep.
Pete
Hoekstra
won
Michigan's
Republican
nomination
for U.S.
Senate
on
Tuesday,
beating
back a
challenge
from two
candidates
who
questioned
his
record
as a
conservative.
Hoekstra's
victory
over
charter
school
foundation
executive
Clark
Durant
and
former
Kent
County
Judge
Randy
Hekman
sets up
a
November
matchup
with
two-term
Democratic
incumbent
Debbie
Stabenow.
Detroit
has had
two
black
representatives
since
1965,
when
Conyers
took
office
alongside
then-Rep.
Charles
Diggs.
But the
GOP-controlled
Legislature
added
suburban
territory
to the
city's
two
districts
after
results
of the
2010
census
dropped
Michigan's
House
delegation
from 15
to 14.
By
clinching
the
Democratic
nomination,
Conyers
is
considered
the
overwhelming
favorite
to win a
25th
term in
November.
Peters
said he
gained
the
confidence
of black
voters
in the
majority-minority
district
with
extensive
outreach
and a
focus on
results.
He
visited
about 50
black
churches
and won
endorsements
from
Detroit
Mayor
Dave
Bing and
an
activist
group
called
The
Black
Slate,
as well
as
leading
unions
and the
Detroit
Regional
Chamber.
In a
closely
watched
race
that
went
down to
the wire
in the
6th
district
seat of
the
Michigan
House,
Detroit
Democrat
Maureen
Stapleton
lost to
fellow
State
Representative
Rashida
Tlaib.
In metro
Detroit
two more
incumbents
faced
defeat
in races
that
pitted
them
against
their
Michigan
House
colleagues.
With a
majority
of
precincts
reporting,
Rep.
Jimmy
Womack
of the
3rd
District
lost to
Rep.
John
Olumba.
Leading
the
count
for most
of
Tuesday,
Rep. Tim
Bledsoe
was
ahead in
three
Grosse
Pointes,
which is
his
stronghold.
However,
by the
end of
the
night,
his
opponent
Alberta
Tinsley-Talabi
received
573 more
votes,
enough
to win
the
nomination
for the
Democratic
seat for
the
second
district
in the
Michigan
State
House of
Representatives.
In
another
closely
watched
primary
race
Tuesday,
Republican
tea
party
favorite
and
political
novice
Kerry
Bentivolio
prevailed
over a
former
state
senator
in the
district
abandoned
by
former
Rep.
Thaddeus
McCotter,
who
resigned
after
failing
to
produce
enough
valid
petition
signatures
to
qualify
for the
ballot.
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