An election was held on November 4, 1986, to elect all 110 members of the Michigan House of Representatives for the 84th Michigan Legislature. In the election, the Democrats increased their membership, resulting in a 64–46 majority over the Republicans.
History In the 1984 general election, Democrats lost six seats to the Republicans, but retained a majority. After the election, Democrats had 57 members compared to 53 Republican members.
The 1986 primary election was held on August 5. There were only 33 contest primary races. Of the contests, 22 were seats where incumbents face re-election. The 11 open seats, where no incumbent sought re-election, all say contested primaries.
The general election was held on November 4. It saw the Democratic majority increase to 64–46. Democrats flipped nine seats, while Republicans flipped two. In the 26th district, Democrat Bill Browne and Republican David Jaye competed in an open seat, vacated by Republican Doug Carl. Browne won by a small margin, just 33 votes. In a December recount requested by Jaye, Browne's victory was upheld. Following the election, Gary Owen was re-elected state House speaker. Paul Hillegonds was selected by Republicans as minority leader.
The state House was sworn in on January 14, 1987.
Results The following are the official results from the 1987–1988 Michigan Manual.
Statewide Party Candi-dates Votes Seats No. % No. +/– % Democratic Party 110 1,266,969 55.24% 64 7 55.45% Republican Party 108 1,022,024 44.56% 46 7 44.54% Tisch Independent Party 5 2,319 0.10% 0 0.00% Independent 6 2,074 0.09% 0 0.00% Write-ins 157 0.00% 0 0.00%Total 229 2,293,543 100.00% 110 100.00%
By district
See also 1986 Michigan Senate election
Notes
References