Michigan gubernatorial election, 2002

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Michigan gubernatorial election, 2002
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←  1998 November 5, 2002 2006  →
Turnout 3,177,565

  Jennifer Granholm 5.jpg Dick Posthumus (cropped).jpeg
Nominee Jennifer Granholm Dick Posthumus
Party Democratic Republican
Running mate John Cherry Loren Bennett
Popular vote1,631,2761,504,755
Percentage51.4%47.4%
Michigan gubernatorial election 2002.svg
County results
Governor before election

John Engler
Republican

Elected Governor

Jennifer Granholm
Democratic

The Michigan gubernatorial election of 2002 was one of the 36 United States gubernatorial elections held on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Republican Governor John Engler, after serving three terms, had stepped down and was not running for a fourth term; his lieutenant governor Dick Posthumus, also a Republican, ran in his place. Jennifer Granholm, then Attorney General of Michigan, ran on the Democratic Party ticket. Douglas Campbell ran on the Green Party ticket, and Joseph M. Pilchak [1] ran on the Constitution Party [2] ticket.

Republican Party (United States) Major political party in the United States

The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States; the other is its historic rival, the Democratic Party.

John Engler American politician

John Mathias Engler is an American businessman and member of the Republican Party who was elected to serve three terms as the 46th Governor of Michigan from 1991 to 2003. He later worked for Business Roundtable, where The Hill called him one of the country's top lobbyists.

Contents

Granholm won with 51% of the vote, followed by Posthumus' 48%, Campbell with 1%, and Pilchak with less than 1%. [3] [4] This made Granholm the first female Michigan governor and the first Democratic governor of Michigan in 12 years. [5]

Republican Primary

With incumbent Governor John Engler ineligible to seek re-election for a third term due to term-limits, [6] Posthumus, Michigan's lieutenant governor, was considered the overwhelming favorite for the Republican nomination. Following his primary win, Posthumus selected state Sen. Loren Bennett as his running mate. [7]

Republican primary results [8]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Dick Posthumus474,80481.39
Republican Joe Schwarz108,58118.61
Total votes583,385100.00

Jim Moody created a candidate committee and filed a Statement of Organization, but did not submit sufficient ballot-access petition signatures to be included on the 2002 primary ballot. [9]

Democratic Primary

The Democratic Party was a competitive, three-way race with between state Attorney General Jennifer Granholm, former Gov. Jim Blanchard (who was upset by Engler in 1990) and former House Minority Whip David Bonior.

Michigan Attorney General attorney general for the U.S. state of Michigan

The Attorney General of Michigan is the fourth-ranking official in the U.S. state of Michigan. The officeholder is elected statewide in the November general election alongside the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, members of the Senate and members of the House of Representatives.

Jennifer Granholm Governor of Michigan

Jennifer Mulhern Granholm is a Canadian-American politician, lawyer, educator, author, political commentator and member of the Democratic Party who served as the Attorney General of Michigan from 1999 to 2003 and as the 47th Governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011. In January 2017, she became a CNN political contributor.

Granholm was accused in the 2002 Democratic primary of several allegations of cronyism while working as Wayne County Corporation Counsel. Her husband, Daniel Mulhern, had received several contracts for his leadership training company shortly after Granholm left her position as a Wayne County Corporation Counsel in 1998. He received nearly $300,000 worth of contracts, despite being the highest bidder for one of those contracts. Opponents criticized Granholm supporters for engaging in cronyism and giving contracts to her husband immediately after leaving county employment. Granholm and her supporters responded that no ethical violations occurred and that Mulhern had earned the contracts on his own merits. [10]

Cronyism is the practice of partiality in awarding jobs and other advantages to friends, family relatives or trusted colleagues, especially in politics and between politicians and supportive organizations. For instance, this includes appointing "cronies" to positions of authority, regardless of their qualifications.

Granholm was the first woman ever nominated by a major party to be Michigan governor. [11] Following her primary victory, Granholm chose state Sen. John Cherry as her running mate. [7]

Democratic primary results [8]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Jennifer Graholm499,12947.69
Democratic David Bonior292,95827.99
Democratic James Blanchard254,58624.32
Total votes1,046,673100.00

Minor Parties

DouglasCampbell2002.jpg
Third-party candidates for governor in 2002. Green Party candidate Douglas Campbell, and no image is available of Joseph Pilchak.

Candidates

Green Party

The Green Party of Michigan nominated Douglas Campbell. Campbell, a registered professional engineer and published Atheist from Ferndale, joined the Green party upon learning of its existence in 2000, [12] and was the Wayne-Oakland-Macomb county campaign coordinator for Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader, 2000. [13] During the 2002 campaign he claimed he was beaten, arrested and jailed (in Brighton, Michigan) for attempting to participate in a gubernatorial debate from which he was excluded, at the time being the only candidate who was not either a Republican or Democrat. [14]

United States Taxpayers Party (Constitution Party)

Capac resident Joseph Pilchak was nominated by convention to be the U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate for Governor of Michigan. He was the U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate for U.S. Representative from Michigan 10th District in 2000. [1] The Michigan US Taxpayers' Party is affiliated with the United States Constitution Party, [15] but Michigan election law does not provide a mechanism for changing the name of a political party. [16]

General Election campaign

Posthumus, who had been previous Governor Engler's Lieutenant Governor, ran his general election campaign promising to maintain the Engler legacy. [17]

Granholm promised change, running as a tough crime-fighter and consumer advocate. Granholm criticized the Engler administration for coming into office with a budget surplus and leaving with a deficit. [17]

Kilpatrick memo controversy

In the biggest event of the election, Posthumus released a memo from Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick asking for more appointments for blacks and jobs for Detroit contractors in a Granholm administration. Posthumus pointed to the memo as an example of Democratic Party corruption. Granholm, however, denied ever receiving the memo and said she wouldn't have agreed to it anyway. She said Posthumus was trying to be racially divisive. [17]

Election results

Michigan gubernatorial election, 2002 [18]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Democratic Jennifer Granholm 1,633,796 51.42% +13.64%
Republican Dick Posthumus 1,506,10447.40%-14.81%
Green Douglas Campbell 25,2360.79%
Constitution Joseph Pilchak12,4110.39%
Write-ins180.00%
Majority127,6924.02%-20.41%
Turnout 3,177,565

Results by County

County GranholmVotesPosthumusVotesOthersVotes
Alcona 47.20%2,16552.04%2,3870.76%35
Alger 52.59%1,85546.02%1,6231.36%49
Allegan 36.66%12,77262.28%21,6950.11%369
Alpena 56.95%6,39142.52%4,7220.98%110
Antrim 39.67%3,75258.96%5,5761.36%129
Arenac 51.14%2,82147.34%2,6111.52%84
Baraga 50.93%1,26347.18%1,1701.90%47
Barry 40.15%8,13658.93%11,9830.92%187
Bay 53.29%21,19045.27%18,0011.43%568
Benzie 45.833,03652.53%3,4801.65%109
Berrien 41.85%17,09457.24%23,2780.91%373
Branch 45.04%5,00154.14%6,0120.82%9
Calhoun 52.59%21,29846.40%18,7891.01%409
Cass 45.10%5,74153.77%6,8451.12%143
Charlevoix 39.89%3,83658.31%5,6081.80%173
Cheboygan 43.29%4,10755.53%5,2681.18%112
Chippewa 49.81%5,42849.16%5,3571.04%113
Clare 50.05%4,71948.56%4,5781.39%131
Clinton 46.39%12,07052.61%13,7111.07%279
Crawford 45.65%2,23352.45%2,5661.90%93
Delta 50.37%6,86248.37%6,5901.26%172
Dickinson 46.47%3,88252.17%4,3581.35%113
Eaton .%.%.%
Emmet .%.%.%
Genesee .%.%.%
Gladwin .%.%.%
Gogebic .%.%.%
Grand Traverse .%.%.%
Gratiot .%.%.%
Hillsdale .%.%.%
Houghton .%.%.%
Huron .%.%.%
Ingham .%.%.%
Ionia .%.%.%
Iosco .%.%.%
Iron .%.%.%
Isabella .%.%.%
Jackson .%.%.%
Kalamazoo .%.%.%
Kalkaska .%.%.%
Kent .%.%.%
Keweenaw .%.%.%
Lake .%.%.%
Lapeer .%.%.%
Leelanau .%.%.%
Lenawee .%.%.%
Livingston .%.%.%
Luce .%.%.%
Mackinac .%.%.%
Macomb .%.%.%
Manistee .%.%.%
Marquette .%.%.%
Mason .%.%.%
Mecosta .%.%.%
Menominee .%.%.%
Midland .%.%.%
Missaukee .%.%.%
Monroe .%.%.%
Montcalm .%.%.%
Montmorency .%.%.%
Muskegon .%.%.%
Newaygo .%.%.%
Oakland .%.%.%
Oceana .%.%.%
Ogemaw .%.%.%
Ontonagon .%.%.%
Osceola .%.%.%
Oscoda .%.%.%
Otsego .%.%.%
Ottawa .%.%.%
Presque Isle .%.%.%
Roscommon .%.%.%
Saginaw .%.%.%
St. Clair .%.%.%
St. Joseph .%.%.%
Sanilac .%.%.%
Schoolcraft .%.%.%
Shiawassee .%.%.%
Tuscola .%.%.%
Van Buren .%.%.%
Washtenaw .%.%.%
Wayne .%.%.%
Wexford .%.%.%

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References

  1. 1 2 The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/pikiel-pinchot.html
  2. ↑ The Constitution Party is still on the Michigan ballot as the United States Taxpayers' Party in Michigan. Although the party changed its name in 1999, the Michigan Bureau of Elections does not provide any mechanism for a political party changing its name.
  3. ↑ CNN.com Election 2002 – Governor. CNN.
  4. ↑ 2002 Official Michigan General Election Results – Governor 4 Year Term (1) Position Archived 2014-01-13 at the Wayback Machine .
  5. ↑ Christian, Nichole M.; Cushman Jr, John H.; Day, Sherri; Dillon, Sam; Lewis, Neil A.; Pear, Robert; Pristin, Terry; Shenon, Philip; Steinberg, Jacques; Wayne, Leslie (7 November 2002). "THE 2002 ELECTIONS: MIDWEST; MICHIGAN". NYT . Retrieved 15 February 2009.
  6. ↑ Associated Press (September 5, 2001). "Its (finally) official: Posthumus enters race for governor". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  7. 1 2 Associated Press (August 23, 2002). "Mich. Candidate Chooses Running Mate". The Edwardsville Intelligencer. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  8. 1 2 http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/results/02PRI/02000000.html
  9. ↑ , Michigan Bureau of Elections, Committee Statement of Organization #510903
  10. ↑ Selweski, Chad (January 13, 2002). "Granholm supporters helped her husband secure Wayne County contracts". Macomb Daily. Archived from the original on June 29, 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-13.
  11. ↑ Longest-serving member of House wins fight of career. USA Today. Accessed 15 February 2009.
  12. ↑ Greens, US. "Green Party Speakers Bureau". gp.org (website).
  13. ↑ "Bio: Douglas Campbell". 2006-10-09. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
  14. ↑ Campbell, Douglas (2002-05-21). "Thinking Politically (Letter from the Brighton Jail)". Synthesis/Regeneration 29 (Fall 2002).
  15. ↑ The Constitution Party was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party in 1992. The national party's name was changed to the Constitution Party in 1999.
  16. ↑ U.S. Taxpayers and Constitution Party of Michigan. "Gubernatorial Debate – Part II Bhagwan (Bob) Dashairya Enters Michigan Governor's Race " Archived 2007-02-17 at the Wayback Machine .. ustaxpayersandconstitutionpartymi.com (website).
  17. 1 2 3 Granholm becomes Michigan's first female governor. USA Today. (Associated Press). Accessed 15 February 2009.
  18. ↑ http://miboecfr.nicusa.com/election/results/02GEN/
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