The ousted Republican incumbent Lucy Ebel had previously described Ottawa County as "very conservative."

Republican county commissioner has been unseated in Michigan after losing to her Democratic challenger by 20 percentage points.

Chris Kleinjans won an Ottawa County election on Tuesday with 60 percent of the vote share, while the Republican incumbent Lucy Ebel lost, having received 40 percent.

Michigan is a battleground state that will be key to November’s presidential election. Donald Trump won the county with 61 percent of the vote in 2020.

  • Leviathan@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    A democrat won by 20 points in Michigan?? I’m pretty staunchly leftist and I think that deserves a quick recount.

    Edit: this was very much a joke, you guys are understandably passionate but civility is still appreciated.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
      0·
      6 months ago

      A county commissioner was defeated in a low-turnout out-of-cycle election by 20-pts.

      • Chris Kleinjans 2502 votes (60%)
      • Lucy Ebel (incumbent) 1665 votes (40%)

      By contrast, in 2020, Ottawa County voted

      • Biden 64,705 38.4%
      • Trump 100,913 59.8%

      So, a huge reversal. But in an election in which only 2% of Republican Presidential regulars turned out relative to 3.8% of Democrats.

      I absolutely would not use this as a bell weather for the 2024 election.

      • JonEFive@midwest.social
        0·
        6 months ago

        But then how are news sources going to make otherwise mundane events sound noteworthy?

        BTW, 100% of person making this reply voted Democrat, therefore everyone in the country will also vote democrat.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
          0·
          6 months ago

          But then how are news sources going to make otherwise mundane events sound noteworthy?

          Flipping the county is absolutely noteworthy, both because it was a recall election and because it flipped parties. Might want to fixate on the actual policy changes promised by the incoming administration, rather than the pure horse-race aspect of an election that’s six months off.

          BTW, 100% of person making this reply voted Democrat, therefore everyone in the country will also vote democrat.

          Unless they’re betrayed by the Fifth Columnist Trump-Loving Idiot Leftist College Muslims Who Hate America, of course.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    Michigan is a battleground state that will be key to November’s presidential election.

    Friendly reminder that, thanks to the US-backed genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, we saw fully 13% of Democrats refuse to support Joe Biden in the Michigan primary

    This, in a state where Democrat primary turnout was 768,158 relative to Republican primary turnout of 1,113,719.

    This war is going to Jimmy Carter the Democrats in November, if they don’t change course in a hurry.

    • rbesfe@lemmy.ca
      0·
      6 months ago

      13% of democrats submitted a protest vote. That is not the same as refusing to vote for Biden in November. I hope that anyone who supports the Palestinian cause can recognize just how much worse it will get under a Trump administration.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        0·
        6 months ago

        That is not the same as refusing to vote for Biden in November.

        That’s a clear signal by registered Democrats of their abstention of support for Biden.

        House Reps aren’t seeing these huge protest votes.

        I hope that anyone who supports the Palestinian cause can recognize just how much worse it will get under a Trump

        I hope that Biden realizes he can’t wait until 2025 to change course in Palestine. Not when 1.4M lives are on the line.

        • Telodzrum@lemmy.world
          0·
          6 months ago

          Not really, this is the damage to your brain that insufficient evidence can cause. Michigan has a storied history of large “Uncommitted” votes in uncontested primaries. For example, “Uncommitted” picked up 16.08% of the vote against Obama in 2012. If anything, this is evidence that support for Biden is stronger that would be expected in Michigan.

          Also, you claim it’s evidence that registered Democrats are abandoning Biden; Michigan has an open primary.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
            0·
            6 months ago

            Michigan has a storied history of large “Uncommitted” votes in uncontested primaries.

            For example, “Uncommitted” picked up 16.08% of the vote against Obama in 2012.

            They picked up 10% and in an election year with 70% lower turnout. And Obama shed 300k votes from his 2008 high. Incidentally, Hillary shed 300,000 additional votes relative to Obama’s 2012 performance. A state that was safely blue decayed to red thanks to growing dissatisfaction in the Dem base. It wasn’t until 2020 that Dems recovered.

            Also, you claim it’s evidence that registered Democrats are abandoning Biden

            If voting against the incumbent isn’t a sign of abandonment, I’m not sure what else is. Certainly the Nikki Haley Republicans are a shot across Trump’s bow.

            Perhaps Dems are just banking on a historically low turnout year overall. But no matter how you slice it, Biden’s support has waned considerably from 2020. He’s not going to hit that 2.8M mark again.