Updated 4:05 p.m., August 5, 2020:
After narrowly leading grassroots conservative Mike Detmer for most of the night, Paul Junge pulled ahead in the race for Michigan’s 8th Congressional District.
The district is heavily gerrymandered and stretches across Ingham, Oakland, and Livingston counties.
Junge won over voters in Ingham and Oakland counties but lost to Mike Detmer in Livingston County.
“You know, I never expected I was going to win 50% of the vote, so I feel very good about the fact that we got strong support in all three counties of the district.”
The former TV anchor will go up against Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, who flipped the district from red to blue in 2018 after President Donald Trump carried the district in 2016.
Original post, August 5, 2020:
Former Trump administration official and TV anchor Paul Junge declared victory early Tuesday morning in the Republican primary in the 8th U.S. House District.
Junge held a more than 4,800-vote lead over Mike Detmer with 71% of the votes counted, but the Associated Press says the four-way race is still too close to call.
Junge beat Detmer in Oakland County, but Detmer beat Junge in Livingston County. The race will be decided in Ingham County, where only a third of the votes have been counted.
The winner of the race will face Democratic incumbent Elissa Slotkin in November.
Junge declared victory just before 2:00 am, and released this statement:
“Elissa Slotkin votes 96% of the time with liberal Speaker Nancy Pelosi, taking our country in the wrong direction by voting to give $1,200 checks to illegal immigrants, subsidies to communist Chinese companies, and to impose costly foreign environmental schemes on America that will destroy Michigan jobs and raise the cost of heating our homes. I will use my experience working in our family business, as a prosecutor, and at Homeland Security to rebuild our economy, help families and small businesses, and defend our American values.”
Congresswoman Slotkin released a statement ahead of the final results:
“While the outcome of tonight’s Republican primary is not yet clear, what we do know is that voters deserve to hear for themselves the clear differences between myself and my eventual opponent. Just as our Founding Fathers designed it, citizens have the right to question the candidates and understand what specifically they will do to improve their lives. Whomever my opponent will be, I will invite him or her to participate in three debates, one each for Oakland, Livingston and Ingham counties. Voters deserve to hear directly from those who seek to represent them, and head-to-head debates, broadcast as widely as possible for the COVID era, are the best way to give voters an opportunity to see the clear differences between us. It is my sincere hope that my opponent will join me in approaching this competition with decency and respect for each other, and for the democratic process."
