Michigan's 7th Congressional District elections, 2014
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November 4, 2014 |
August 5, 2014 |
Tim Walberg |
Tim Walberg |
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Cook Political Report: Lean R[1] Sabato's Crystal Ball: Lean R[2] |
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The 7th Congressional District of Michigan held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. He defeated challengers Pam Byrnes (D), Ken Proctor (L), Rick Strawcutter (I) and David Swartout (I) in the general election.[3] The incumbent was Tim Walberg (R), who won re-election in 2012 by a margin of victory of over 10 percentage points.
Cook Political Report considered Michigan's 7th Congressional District a competitive district, rating it as a "Lean Republican" district. Ballotpedia did not rank MI-7 among our most competitive list due to its 10+ percentage point margin of victory in the previous election and because the district had trended substantially more Republican since 2008. Walberg was considered to be at an advantage to win the district because of his stances against President Obama's policies, which became unpopular in the district.
In 2008, President Obama won the district by over three percentage points. However, in 2012, the totals flipped and Romney won by over three percentage points. Walberg fended off a primary challenge from Douglas Radcliffe North and faced Pam Byrnes in the general election.
Byrnes ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and was considered a strong challenger to Walberg. As of July 2014, Walberg still held a strong fundraising advantage with over $800,000 cash-on-hand, double of what Byrnes had at that time.
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
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Primary: A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Michigan utilizes an open primary system, in which registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.[4]<[5]
Voter registration: To vote in the primary, voters must have registered by June 7, 2014. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 6, 2014.[6]
- See also: Michigan elections, 2014
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Tim Walberg (R), who was first elected in 2006.
Michigan's 7th Congressional District is located in the southeastern region of the lower peninsula of Michigan. It includes Branch, Eaton, Hillsdale, Jackson, Lenawee, and Monroe counties and a portion of Washtenaw County.[7]
Candidates
General election candidates
Tim Walberg - Incumbent
Pam Byrnes
Ken Proctor
Rick Strawcutter
August 5, 2014, primary results
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Elections
General election results
The 7th Congressional District of Michigan held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. Incumbent Tim Walberg (R) defeated challengers Pam Byrnes (D), Ken Proctor (L), Rick Strawcutter (UST) and David Swartout (I) in the general election.
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Tim Walberg Incumbent |
53.5% | 119,564 | |
| Democratic | Pam Byrnes | 41.2% | 92,083 | |
| Libertarian | Ken Proctor | 2% | 4,531 | |
| U.S. Tax Payers Party | Rick Strawcutter | 1.4% | 3,138 | |
| Independent | David Swartout | 2% | 4,369 | |
| Total Votes | 223,685 | |||
| Source: Michigan Secretary of State | ||||
Primary results
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Tim Walberg Incumbent |
79.3% | 38,046 | ||
| Douglas Radcliffe North | 20.7% | 9,934 | ||
| Total Votes | 47,980 | |||
| Source: Michigan Secretary of State |
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Campaign contributions
Tim Walberg
| Tim Walberg (2014) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[8] | April 15, 2013 | $276,102.77 | $116,667.25 | $(65,297.58) | $327,472.44 | ||||
| July Quarterly[9] | July 15, 2013 | $327,472.44 | $16,142.01 | $(489,414.45) | $434,543.80 | ||||
| October Quarterly[10] | October 15, 2013 | $434,543.80 | $212,363.48 | $(76,746.81) | $570,160.47 | ||||
| Year-End[11] | January 31, 2014 | $570,160.47 | $220,261.89 | $(61,873.75) | $728,548.61 | ||||
| April Quarterly[12] | April 15, 2014 | $728,548.61 | $191,466.07 | $(83,343.70) | $836,670.98 | ||||
| July Quarterly | July 15, 2014 | $836,670.00 | $362,862.00 | $(145,206.00) | $1,061,050.00 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $1,119,762.7 | $(921,882.29) | ||||||||
Pam Byrnes
| Pam Byrnes (2014) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| October Quarterly[13] | October 15, 2013 | $0.00 | $191,648.29 | $(25,297.11) | $166,351.18 | ||||
| Year-End[14] | January 31, 2014 | $166,351.18 | $200,464.47 | $(67,355.76) | $299,459.89 | ||||
| April Quarterly[15] | April 15, 2014 | $299,459.89 | $221,833.37 | $(97,950.52) | $423,342.74 | ||||
| July Quarterly | July 15, 2014 | $609,202.00 | $23,199.00 | $(35,475.00) | $596,927.00 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $637,145.13 | $(226,078.39) | ||||||||
David Swartout
| David Swartout (2014) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
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| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| July Quarterly | July 15, 2014 | $2,294.00 | $1,950.00 | $(2,598.00) | $1,646.00 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $1,950 | $(2,598) | ||||||||
District history
| Candidate ballot access |
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2012
The 7th Congressional District of Michigan held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Incumbent Tim Walberg won re-election in the district.[16]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Kurt R. Haskell | 43% | 136,849 | |
| Republican | Tim Walberg Incumbent |
53.3% | 169,668 | |
| Libertarian | Ken Proctor | 2.5% | 8,088 | |
| Green | Richard Wunsch | 1.1% | 3,464 | |
| Total Votes | 318,069 | |||
| Source: Michigan Secretary of State, "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Race background
The 2012 election race in Michigan's 7th Congressional District a race strongly affected by the 2010 redistricting process.[17] Tim Walberg lost the district to centrist Mark Schauer (D) in 2008. He then beat Schauer in a rematch by 5 points in 2010. The redistricting process, controlled by Republicans, made sure to cut Schauer’s home base out of the district and made it a few points more Republican.[17] This caused Schauer to refuse another attempt and removed an opponent that had proven strongly competitive for Walberg in the past. Instead Walberg faced off against Kurt R. Haskell. Walberg spent $1,309,735, which was a significantly higher than the $101,252 spent by Haskell.[18]
2010
On November 2, 2010, Tim Walberg won election to the United States House. He defeated incumbent Mark Schauer (D), Scott Eugene Aughney (U.S. Taxpayers), Greg Merle (Libertarian), Richard Wunsch (Green) and Danny Davis (Write-in) in the general election.[19]
| U.S. House, Michigan District 7 General Election, 2010 | ||||
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| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Tim Walberg |
50.2% | 113,185 | |
| Democratic | Mark Schauer incumbent | 45.4% | 102,402 | |
| U.S. Taxpayers | Scott Eugene Aughney | 1.6% | 3,705 | |
| Libertarian | Greg Merle | 1.4% | 3,239 | |
| Green | Richard Wunsch | 1.4% | 3,117 | |
| Write-in | Danny Davis | 0% | 21 | |
| Total Votes | 225,669 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan, 2014
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2014
- Tim Walberg
- Pam Byrnes
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2014 HOUSE RACE RATINGS FOR JULY 26, 2014," accessed July 31, 2014
- ↑ Sabato's Crystal Ball, "2014 House Races," accessed July 31, 2014
- ↑ Politico, "House Elections Results," accessed November 11, 2014
- ↑ NCSL,"State Primary Election Types," accessed October 7, 2024
- ↑ Michigan.gov,"Questions and Answers: Michigan’s Presidential Primary," accessed October 7, 2024
- ↑ Michigan Department of State Website, "Registering to Vote: Step 2," accessed January 3, 2014
- ↑ United States Census Bureau, "Counties by Congressional Districts," accessed June 8, 2016
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Tim Walberg April Quarterly," accessed July 30, 2013
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Tim Walberg July Quarterly," accessed July 30, 2013
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Tim Walberg October Quarterly," accessed October 22, 2013
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Tim Walberg Year-End," accessed February 10, 2014
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Tim Walberg April Quarterly," accessed April 21, 2014
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Pam Byrnes October Quarterly," accessed October 30, 2013
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Pam Byrnes Year-End," accessed February 11, 2014
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Pam Byrnes April Quarterly," accessed April 21, 2014
- ↑ Politico, "2012 Election Map, Michigan," accessed November 3, 2012
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 The Hill, "House members most helped by redistricting," accessed March, 2013
- ↑ Open Secrets, "2012 Race: Michigan District 07" accessed March 2013
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
