Update: Gretchen Witmer won the Democratic nod for governor, beating out Abdul El-Sayed 51.6 percent to 31 percent. She will go up against GOP primary winner Bill Schuette in the general election.
DETROIT (CN) – Voters in Michigan’s primary election Tuesday will decide which candidates will face each other in November to become the state’s new governor, in addition to races for congressional seats.
The race to replace outgoing Governor Rick Snyder, who is term-limited, offers a diverse choice for voters.
Democrat Gretchen Whitmer has emerged as an establishment favorite. A former Michigan Senate minority leader, the 46-year old Whitmer also has experience as a state representative and was an interim Ingham County prosecutor when victims of Michigan State University’s notorious gymnastics doctor Larry Nasser came forward with their stories of sexual abuse.
Abdul El-Sayed , the 33-year-old former director of the Detroit Heath Department, launched his spirited Democratic campaign with numerous positive TV ads.
El-Sayed says he was approached by former President Bill Clinton following a speech at the University of Michigan in 2007. Clinton told him to pursue politics instead of medicine. El-Sayed didn’t take that idea seriously until former President Barack Obama arrived on the scene.
"The first time I thought remotely that there was a possibility was watching Barack Obama run," El-Sayed told The Detroit News. "And even then, the biggest hit on him was that he could potentially be a Muslim, right?”
Candidate Shri Thanedar, a former engineer who spent millions of his own fortune for TV ads casting himself as “the most progressive Democrat running for governor,” has received uneven press coverage.
Thanedar started a small chemical testing company that flourished into the late 1990s after he immigrated to the United States. However, after the company was beset with financial trouble, hundreds of animals used for lab testing were reportedly abandoned in the facility. Former workers broke into the building to care for the animals, according to a USA Today report.
On the Republican ticket, Bill Schuette is the state’s current attorney general and hasn’t looked to downplay his vast experience in government. The 64-year old has served in Congress, the Michigan Senate and as an appellate judge.
“I think my experience is an asset for us to win again,” Schuette told The Detroit News, referring to a possible third consecutive gubernatorial term by a Republican. “You better have the strongest, toughest, most experienced hand to be the next governor.”
Another Republican candidate, Brian Calley, is currently Snyder’s lieutenant governor. Calley was elected to the position in 2010 after a stint as a state representative and won re-election in 2014.
Calley was the public face of the Snyder administration in Flint after the city’s water crisis became national news, and attempted to quell suspicion from local government officials and residents about.
Patrick Colbeck is widely considered the most conservative candidate. Colbeck won a seat in the Michigan Senate in 2010 on a wave of Tea Party enthusiasm.
His support from the Michigan GOP was revoked when he claimed that Democratic candidate El-Sayed had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
“Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, whose parents apparently have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood back in Egypt…This is scary stuff” Colbeck said in one clip.