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 County results Congressional district resultsLevin: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Hoogendyk: 40–50% 50–60% | |||||||||||||||||
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The2008 United States Senate election in Michigan was held on November 4, 2008[1] Incumbent Democratic U.S. SenatorCarl Levin won a sixth and final term. Levin carried 77 ofMichigan’s 83 Counties, and carried everyCongressional district.
The only counties Levin did not carry wereAllegan,Barry,Hillsdale,Livingston,Missaukee, andOttawa.
Levin's 2002 opponentAndrew Raczkowski considered running again, but military commitments forced him to drop out. State representativeJack Hoogendyk declared his candidacy to challenge Levin.[2]Troy engineer Bart Baron was also running.[3]Baron apparently failed to qualify for the August 5, 2008 party primary ballot in theMichigan Secretary of State's office. So only Hoogendyk was listed on the Republican side in the Michigan primary election.[4] Levin was unopposed on the Democratic side. The filing deadline for candidates to run was May 13.[5]
Minor party candidates who ran included Harley Mikkelson of theGreen Party,Scotty Boman of theLibertarian Party,[6] Michael Nikitin of theU.S. Taxpayers Party[7] and Doug Dern of theNatural Law Party. Levin, who maintained a huge fundraising advantage over his opponents,[8] easily won re-election.
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| The Cook Political Report[9] | Safe D | October 23, 2008 |
| CQ Politics[10] | Safe D | October 31, 2008 |
| Rothenberg Political Report[11] | Safe D | November 2, 2008 |
| Real Clear Politics[12] | Safe D | November 4, 2008 |
| Poll Source | Dates administered | Carl Levin (D) | Jack Hoogendyk (R) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rasmussen Reports[13] | October 8, 2008 | 61% | 36% |
| Public Policy Polling[14] | September 29 – October 1, 2008 | 50% | 32% |
| Strategic Vision[15] | September 22–24, 2008 | 57% | 29% |
| Detroit News[16] | September 14–17, 2008 | 56% | 28% |
| Rasmussen Reports[17] | September 18, 2008 | 57% | 38% |
| Strategic Vision[18] | September 5–7, 2008 | 58% | 28% |
| Public Policy Polling[19] | September 6–7, 2008 | 51% | 36% |
| EPIC-MRA/Detroit News[20] | August 18–21, 2008 | 59% | 27% |
| Public Policy Polling(PPP)[21] | July 23–27, 2008 | 54% | 35% |
| Rasmussen Reports[13] | July 10, 2008 | 59% | 36% |
| Public Policy Polling[22] | June 21–22, 2008 | 54% | 32% |
| Rasmussen Reports[23] | June 11, 2008 | 55% | 35% |
| Rasmussen Reports[23] | May 7, 2008 | 54% | 37% |
On October 19 WGVU Public television hosted a Senatorial debate to which only Democratic SenatorCarl Levin and Republican State RepresentativeJack Hoogendyk were invited.[24] They debated topics such as the economy, immigration,[25] and foreign policy.[26][27]
Levin blamed job loss in Michigan on President Bush, while Hoogendyk blamed Levin.[27] Levin supported a Federal bailout of the auto industry, while Hoogendyk opposed the idea.[24]
The event, which was moderated by WZZM TV 13's News anchor Peter Ross, was met with protest by supporters of excluded candidates.[25][28] One of the protesters was Libertarian candidateScotty Boman, who asserted that he met the stations qualifications. WGVU required the candidates to show at least 5% support in a statewide scientific poll, but Boman said no statewide poll had been done that included him.[28][29]An exclusive WXYZ poll included all of the candidates, but only contacted respondents in the 7th and 9th Congressional district.[30] Boman also claimed that public broadcasters should have invited the other candidates since it is supported with tax dollars.[28]
SenatorCarl Levin and State RepresentativeJack Hoogendyk met again, the following day (October 20), for a forum hosted by the Detroit Economic Club.[25]
Levin was declared the winner right when the polls closed inMichigan. Levin won all but six ofMichigan's 83 counties. Levin unsurprisingly won major metropolitan areas, such asWayne County home ofDetroit orIngham County home ofLansing. He also became the first Democratic Senator sinceDonald Riegle in 1982 to carryKent County, home ofGrand Rapids. When combining the suburban and rural counties, it was too much for Hoogendyk to overcome. Levin's 3,038,386 votes is the most received by any political candidate in the state's history.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Carl Levin (incumbent) | 3,038,386 | 62.66% | +2.05% | |
| Republican | Jack Hoogendyk | 1,641,070 | 33.85% | −4.04% | |
| Libertarian | Scotty Boman | 76,347 | 1.57% | n/a | |
| Green | Harley Mikkelson | 43,440 | 0.90% | +0.14% | |
| U.S. Taxpayers | Michael Nikitin | 30,827 | 0.64% | n/a | |
| Natural Law | Doug Dern | 18,550 | 0.38% | +0.05% | |
| Majority | 1,397,316 | 28.82% | +6.10% | ||
| Turnout | 4,848,620 | ||||
| Democratichold | Swing | ||||
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