1 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, November 7, 2012- 5A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, November 7, 2012- 5A
S
Driskell ousts Ouimet
to take Mich. 52nd
Democrats secure
all Washtenaw
County state
Rep. seats
By CHANNING ROBINSON
Daily StaffReporter
Washtenaw County lost its
last Republican representative
on Tuesday, when Gretchen
Driskell, the former mayor of
Saline, defeated state Rep. Mark
Ouimet (R-Scio Township) in
the race to represent Michigan's
52nd District in the state House
of Representatives.
Driskell earned 52.6 percent
of the vote, defeating Ouimet
by more than 3,000 votes. She
claimed victory after 73 percent
of votes had been reported, at
which point she led by just 253
votes.
Driskell praised her support-
ers at a watch party at Weber's
Inn in Ann Arbor.
"We're here to thank all the
supporters that have been help-
ing us to where we are right
now," Driskell said. "We are in
a good -position. Obviously it's
early in the race and we have
hopeful expectations, but most
importantly, we want to thank
the people that are still here
because it could possibly be a
very late night.
Driskell commended cam-
paign volunteers for helping her
publicize the highly contested
campaign.
"I've been so impressed by the
incredible response that we've
had in the district by so many
people," Driskell said. "Every
single poll we went to there was
somebody standing there with
a Driskell sign - freezing - but
they were there with a smile on
their face."
Following her speech, enthu-
siastic guests chanted "Gretch-
en."
Ouimet spent election night
at the Ann Arbor Country Club
with Republican supporters,
who spent much of the evening
watching televisions tuned to
Fox News coverage of election
returns in the presidential elec-
tion.
He said his campaign for
re-election was focused on
informing voters of the progress
Michigan has made in the last
two years. He added that the
county experienced business
growth and saw Ouhet's cam-
paign goals accomplished.
"It was an interesting elec-
tion," he said. "We executed our
game plan and we started and
mapped something out every
day that we needed to accom-
plish and we accomplished all of,
our objectives and now we just
wait and see."
Congressman Dingell speaks to supporters in Taylor, Mich. on Tuesday Nov.6.
Dingell wins historic
30th U.S. House term
Dean of the House
wins by a wide
margin over GOP
challenger
By KATIE BURKE
Daily StaffReporter
TAYLOR, Mich. - Members of
the United Auto Workers cheered
out in jubilation as results of the
national election flashed across
a screen, indicating a historic
win for U.S. Rep. John Dingell
(D-Mich.), the longest-serving
member of the U.S. House of Rep-
resentatives.
At the event, 86-year-old Ding-
ell claimed a victory over Repub-
lican candidate Cynthia Kallgren
in the state's newly drawn 12th
district - which includes parts of
Ann Arbor, Taylor and Dearborn
- with a 75 percent lead with 79
percent of precincts reported as of
2:35 a.m. Wednesday.
In an address to the UAW
workers, Dingell said the crowd
reflected a diverse group of peo-
ple that he hoped the election
would allow himself and fellow
Democratsto continueto fightfor.
"(We're here) because we
believein somethingthat's impor-
tant," Dingell said at the event.
"We care about the future, and
that's what this election is about,
about seeing through it that our
kids get a decent education, that
they get health care. About seeing
through it that they can expect to
live just a little better than their
parents did."
In an interview with The
Michigan Daily, Dingell said the -
Democrats ran a stronger cam-
paign this year than during the
midterm election in 2010, and
their efforts show in the election
results.
"Frankly, the Republicans out-
spent us (in 2010), quite frankly
they out-lied us, and quite frankly
they won at a time when things
were bad." Dingell said. "Folks
didn't realize that it was their
handling of the economy and
their governing of the country
that made things such a mess,
and we didn't get out and reflect
that thought to people. This time
we did abetter job of getting our
story out and the people respond-
ed."
Dingell said he will continue to
pursue bipartisan policies in Con-
gress, noting his former success
among both parties on legislation
regarding food safety, pharma-
ceutical protection, and oil and
gas drilling regulation.
"If I can get the ideologues on
that side to retreat just a little,
we're going to try to see to it that
we do things that are necessary
to implement the health care bill,
to implement a lot of other legis-
lation that is necessary," Dingell
said.
He said that while Obama's
groundbreaking status as the
first African-American president
is indicative of the vast advance-
ments toward racial tolerance in
the nation since he first took office
in 1955, more must be done.
"The country has matured,
we're much wiser," Dingell said.
"That doesn't tell me though,
from some of the things that I've
heard, that we have yet ridden
all of the racial evils from this
nation, butI do see that first of all
the country is prepared to accept
a minority president, and that's
good."
He added that Obama is wor-
thy of his re-election because of
his achievements in helping save
the auto industry, wofkingto end
the War in Iraq, killing Osama
bin Laden and passing health
care reform.
"The harsh fact of the matter
is that we've made huge progress.
It is also a fact that the president
has had a good program, a fine
record of accomplishments,"
Dingell said.
While Dingell visited Taylor,
Kallgren met with supporters
and awaited results atlan Old Fire
House owned by the Downriver
and Detroit Business Association
in Wyandotte, Mich.
Laughter filled the room as
volunteers and campaign enthu-
siasts noshed on a dinner of pizza
and lasagna while waiting to see
if their efforts paid off.
Kallgren said that despite the
outcome, she was proud of her
campaign's efforts.
"I think this is the calm after
the storm," Kallgren said. "Now
I can go back to being a human
being again for the moment and
just enjoy the people who so lov-
ingly gave their time and efforts
knocking on doors and making
phone calls."
Kyle Kulik, a volunteer for the
Kallgren campaign, said he origi-
nally joined the campaign after
being asked by a friend to help,
but was also drawn to the candi-
date because of her anti-abortion
ideology.
"It was really a great experi-
ence because it helped me learn
more about what was going on
during this election," Kulik said.
Kulik said he most enjoyed-
door-to-door canvassing because
it made him feel closer to Kall-
gren and the community.
"I don't know how many
people actually meet and are
able to talk with those who they
might elect to office," Kulik said.
"That's something very impor-
tant, to have a relationship with
that person."
Kallgren said her campaign
has been an uphill battle from
the start, especially as a self-pro-
claimed housewife and regular
citizen who decided to run for
Congress against an entrenched
incumbent.
"Before the primary, we
couldn't even find a paper that
would announce that I was run-
ning," Kallgren said.
She said she's not sure if she
will run again in the future,
and is looking forward to see-
ing the final distribution of votes
between the counties.
Kallgren acknowledged that
Dingell is likely nearing retire-
ment age, and is unsure about the
fate of his seat in Congress.
"(It's) pretty disturbing when
you think we fought so hard to
get away from a monarchy in
England and how we have a seat
where there's an assumption that
you can just pass that title down
to a family member," Kallgren
said. "That's just not the Ameri-
can way."
Daily Staff Reporter Danielle
Raykhinshteyn contributed
reporting from Wyandotte, Mich.
State Rep Jeff Irwin speaks at his election night rally on Monday.
State.Rep. Irwin keeps
seat in landslide victOry
Incumbent wins
more than 80
percent of the vote
BySAM GRINGLAS
DailyStaffReporter
Incumbent State Rep. Jeff
Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) has
claimed victory over Republi-
can challenger John Spisak in
Michigan's 52nd district.
Irwin had 81 percent of the
vote at 12:30 a.m., while his
Republican challenger John
Spisak received 18.11 percent.
In a victory speech to a
crowd of about 100 Democratic
supporters at the Washtenaw
County Democrats watch party
at the Weber Inn in Ann Arbor,
Irwin said he looks forward to
fighting for social issues in the
state.
"I'm really excited to go
back up there and keep fight-
ing for education funding,
protecting clean air and clean
water, and fighting for equal
rights for all of our citizens no
matter who they love," Irwin
said. "We have a lot of work
here to do here in Lansing
and a lot of work to do here in
Michigan."
@michigandaily
Supereme Court candidates
in tight battle for two seats
Service will provide
* primary care to
community
By GIACOMO BOLOGNA
Daily StaffReporter
Though the contests are
still too close to call, the Michi-
gan Supreme Court is expected
to maintain a 4-3 conservative
majority.
The Republican-backed incum-
bent Brian Zahra is projected to
defeat his liberal opponent Shelia
Johnson. He led by nine points
with 87 percent of precincts
reporting. The winner wouldserve
on the bench until Jan. 1,2015.
Four candidates were vying
for two eight-year appointments
to the Supreme Court. Conserva-
tive incumbent Stephen Mark-
man was in a tight battle with
his Democratically supported
challengers, University Law Prof.
Bridget McCormack and Connie
Kelley, as well as Oakland County
Circuit Judge Colleen O'Brien, all
of whom were within mere per-
centage points of one another as of
early Wednesday morning.
Despite the close numbers,
McCormack said she believed her
hard work would lead her to vic-
tory.
"I received 10 out of 10 news-
paper endorsements and really
worked hard to develop relation-
ships around the state to make
sure people understood that I
was committed to having a court
where politics didn't play a role
and everyone got a fair shake and
I think my message resonated,"
McCormack said.