Turnout 3,156,531 50.9% 46.8% | 1,605,034 1,476,904 Start date November 4, 2014 | |
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Winner Rick Snyder | ||
The Michigan gubernatorial election of 2014 took place on November 4, 2014, to elect the Governor of Michigan, concurrently with the election of Michigan's Class II U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Contents
- Republican primary
- Declared
- Failed to qualify
- Declined
- Democratic primary
- Withdrew
- Libertarian Party
- Green Party
- US Taxpayers Party
- Debates
- References
Incumbent Republican Governor Rick Snyder ran for re-election to a second term in office. Primary elections took place on August 5, 2014, in which Snyder and former U.S. Representative Mark Schauer were unopposed in the Republican and Democratic primaries, respectively.
Snyder was considered vulnerable in his bid for a second term, as reflected in his low approval ratings. The consensus among The Cook Political Report, Governing, The Rothenberg Political Report, and Sabato's Crystal Ball was that the contest was a "tossup". Snyder was saddled with a negative approval rating, while his Democratic opponent, former U.S. Representative Mark Schauer, suffered from a lack of name recognition.
Snyder was re-elected with 50.9% of the vote.
Republican primary
Polling indicated significant opposition from Republican primary voters in Michigan towards Snyder's bid for re-election. This came in the midst of discussions by the Tea Party network regarding whether incumbent Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley should be replaced as Snyder's running mate. Snyder started running campaign ads in September 2013, immediately following the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference and formally declared that he is seeking re-election in January 2014.
In August 2013, Tea Party leader Wes Nakagiri announced that he would challenge Calley for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor. At the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference (September 20–22, 2013), speculation reported by the media also included Todd Courser as a potential challenger to Calley. At the Michigan Republican Party state convention, which took take place on August 23, 2014, incumbent Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley won renomination.
On January 3, 2014, Mark McFarlin (who had originally declared his intention to run as a Democrat the previous November), announced that he would be running for the Republican nomination. He believed that his populist platform was too conservative for the Democratic ticket, and that he could get crossover support in the general election. However, he did not submit his filing petitions in time to qualify for the August primary ballot.
Declared
Failed to qualify
Declined
Democratic primary
Michigan Democratic Party leadership has rallied support behind former U.S. Representative Mark Schauer, who is running unopposed in the Democratic Party primary. Party Chairman Lon Johnson has encouraged all other potential challengers to stay out of the race so as to avoid a costly and potentially bitter primary campaign. Conservative Democrat and "birther" Mark McFarlin had announced on November 29, 2013, that he was running for the Democratic nomination for Governor, but he switched parties on January 3, 2014, leaving Schauer as the only candidate for the Democratic nomination.
Declared
Withdrew
Declined
Libertarian Party
Green Party
U.S. Taxpayers Party
Declared
Debates
Schauer and Snyder agreed to a town hall style debate that was held October 12 on the campus of Wayne State University in Detroit. It was co-sponsored by the Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press and public TV station WTVS which televised the debate and sent the feed to other TV stations in Michigan as well as C-SPAN. The debate was made available for viewing online.