An election was held on November 8, 1994, to elect all 38 members of the Michigan Senate for the 88th Michigan Legislature. In the election, the Republicans maintained their 22–16 majority over the Democrats.
History In the 1990 general election, the Republicans won a 20–18 majority over the Democrats, the same result of the 1986 election. In November 1992, conservative Democrat Gilbert DiNello defected to the Republican Party. In a March 1993 special election, Republican Joel Gougeon won a special election for a seat previously held by Democrat James Barcia, who resigned to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. In May 1994, Democratic State Sen. David S. Holmes Jr. died. In June, Governor John Engler declared the special election to fill the vacancy his death left in the Senate would be held on November 8, alongside the general election. These changes left the state Senate with a 22–15 Republican majority over the Democrats before the 1994 general election.
This was the first election after redistricting occurred, based on the 1990 census.
Initially, Democratic State Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick filed to run for the state Senate in the 3rd district's Democratic primary, but withdrew upon learning that David S. Holmes was also running for re-election in the same district. Holmes died days after the filing deadline. The Michigan Legislature passed a bill, reopening the deadline, allowing Kilpatrick and other prospective candidates to refile for the primary. Henry Stallings II, who had been Holmes's only challenger in the primary before he died, challenged the bill, claiming it was unconstitutional. The law was voided by a circuit court ruling in June. Kilpatrick would run an unsuccessful write-in campaign against Stallings in the primary.
The primary election was held on August 2. Incumbents saw re-election, including DiNello. The Associated Press reported that DiNello was expected to face a serious primary challenge due to his party swap, though he would win his primary by a large margin. The Democrats viewed his state Senate seat as vulnerable in the general election.
The general election was held on November 8. Republican incumbent DiNello lost re-election, but the Republicans managed to win another seat. Republican Loren Bennett won the seat left open by the retiring of Democrat William Faust. The elected maintained their 22–16 majority over the Democrats. Following the election, Republican Dick Posthumus was re-elected majority leader. Art Miller Jr. was re-elected by the Democrats as minority leader.
The state Senate was sworn in on January 11, 1995.
Results The following are the official results from the Michigan Secretary of State.
Statewide Party Candi-dates Votes Seats No. % No. +/– % Republican Party 38 1,579,185 53.30% 22 57.89% Democratic Party 38 1,363,334 46.01% 16 1 42.10% Libertarian Party 6 15,223 0.51% 0 0.00% Natural Law Party 3 3,115 0.10% 0 0.00% Independents 1 944 0.03% 0 0.00% Write-ins 835 0.02% 0 0.00%Total 86 2,962,636 100.00% 38 100.00%
By district
Special election In June 1994, Governor John Engler announced a special election would be held on November 8, alongside the general election. The special election was triggered by the death of Democrat David S. Holmes Jr., on May 21. The primary election was held on August 2. The Democratic primary was won Patricia Holmes, the daughter of David Holmes. She defeated her stepmother and David Holmes's widow, Avis Holmes. Patricia Holmes went on to win the special general election unopposed. She was sworn in on November 29.
See also 1994 Michigan House of Representatives election
References