Michigan Candidates and Overview

Jennifer Granholm was elected governor in 2002. She won the Democratic gubernatorial primary that year over former Gov. James Blanchard and U.S. House Minority Whip David Bonior, topping both by more than 20 points, then went on to beat Republican Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus in the general election with 51 percent of the vote.

Granholm won re-election in 2006, defeating wealthy Republican opponent Dick DeVos 56 percent to 42 percent. She faced no primary opponents.

Granholm made her first run for office in 1998, when she was promoted by Wayne County Executive Ed McNamara for attorney general. She won the nomination and ran on a ticket featuring gubernatorial candidate Geoffrey Fieger, best known as assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian's attorney.

Granholm easily beat Republican John Smietanka in the general election, becoming the only Democrat to win in a state where Republicans controlled the Legislature, the Supreme Court and the state's other top elected positions.

(Last updated by Kathy Barks Hoffman on April 28, 2009.)

Carl Levin won his first Senate election in 1978, when he defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Robert Griffin by getting 52 percent of the vote. Levin was re-elected in 1984, again with 52 percent of the vote, beating Republican Jack Lousma, a former astronaut.

In 1990, Levin defeated Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Schuette with 58 percent of the vote. In 1996, he defeated Republican Ronna Romney, again with 58 percent of the vote.

He was re-elected again in 2002, defeating Republican state representative Andrew "Rocky" Raczkowski with 61 percent of the vote.

In 2008, Levin beat challenger Jack Hoogendyk, a state House member, with 63 percent of the vote.

(Last updated by Ken Thomas on March 23, 2009.)

Debbie Stabenow first won election to the U.S. Senate in 2000. She defeated Sen. Spencer Abraham in by a narrow 49 percent to 48 percent margin.

Three Republicans — pastor Keith Butler of Troy, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard of Birmingham and Cutlerville minister Jerry Zandstra — fought to challenge her in 2006. Zandstra was ruled ineligible for the August primary ballot and Bouchard handily beat Butler.

Stabenow held onto her seat in the general election with 57 percent of the vote over Bouchard.

Prior to her Senate career, Stabenow served 12 years in the state House before winning a state Senate seat in 1990 with 67 percent of the vote.

In the 1994 Democratic gubernatorial primary, she received 30 percent of the vote to Howard Wolpe's 35 percent in a four-way race. Wolpe picked her as his running mate, but the pair lost in the general election to Republican Gov. John Engler, who easily won re-election, 61 percent to 38 percent.

Her 1996 campaign against U.S. Rep. Dick Chrysler, a freshman Republican incumbent, was her first campaign for Congress. She had no Democratic primary opposition and defeated Chrysler with 54 percent of the vote.

She was re-elected in 1998, defeating Republican Susan Grimes Munsell, a former state representative, 57 percent to 38 percent.

(Last updated by Tim Martin on March 24, 2009.)