Michigan voters knock out sixth incumbent!
DETROIT, Michigan (PNN) - August 4, 2010 - Incumbents beware. Another lawmaker just bit the dust.
Democrat Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Michigan lost her bid for an eighth term on Tuesday; the legal woes of her son Kwame, the former Detroit mayor, dragging her down in a year when voters seem eager to fire longtime lawmakers.
She's the sixth - and the fourth in the House - to lose so far this year; and the frustrated electorate could deal others the same fate in primaries over the next two months, not to mention the general election in November, when nothing less than the balance of power in Washington will be at stake.
In another nod to fresh blood, Michigan voters chose political newcomer Rick Snyder as the Republican nominee in the race to succeed outgoing Democrat Governor Jennifer Granholm in a state severely battered by the economic downturn.
He automatically became the favorite in the ailing state in his race against Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, who grabbed the Democrat nomination by beating House Speaker
Andy Dillon. Michigan has the nation's second-highest unemployment rate - at 13.2% - and scores of foreclosures, and that has been a drag on Granholm, the Democrat governor who must leave office because of term limits.
The two outcomes reflected the electorate's strong anti-establishment sentiment and intense desire for new faces just three months before midterm elections.
Other races in Missouri and Kansas were more predictable in what otherwise has been a primary season filled with unanticipated results, as Tea Party hopefuls shook up races and voters spurned candidates aligned with the political parties.
In Kansas, two-term Senator Sam Brownback sailed to the GOP nomination in the gubernatorial race. Democrat Robin Carnahan - a member of a famed Missouri political family - and seven-term GOP Rep. Roy Blunt secured spots on the November ballot in that state's Senate race.
