Terence Mekoski and state Rep. Douglas Wozniak of Shelby Township were battling for the lead among GOP candidates in a Tuesday special election to decide a Republican-leaning state Senate seat for Macomb County.
Mekoski, who unsuccessfully ran for Macomb County sheriff in 2020, had 32% of the vote to Wozniak’s 30% with 5% of precincts reporting. State Rep. Pamela Hornberger of Chesterfield Township trailed in third with 24%%.
The November 2020 election appeared to be affecting the race. Mekoski and Wozniak said they supported a new audit of Michigan’s November 2020 election, which former President Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden by 3 percentage points or 154, 000 voters. Only Hornberger didn’t commit to the idea, saying it would depend on what evidence of fraud comes forward in the state.
Seven Republicans are seeking their party’s nomination in the 8th Michigan Senate District, the most Republican-leaning Senate district in Macomb County, a swing county that Trump won twice. Most candidates told The Detroit News that election integrity was among the top issues in the primary.
The 8th District seat is open after former Sen. Pete Lucido, R-Shelby Township, was elected Macomb County’s prosecutor in November.
In early results,Martin Robert Genter of Harrison Township was leading John Bill of Rochester Hills in the Democratic primary, 67%-33%.
The winner of the GOP primary in the special election will be the favorite to claim Lucido’s old seat in November. In 2018 — a year where Democrats won at the top of the ticket in Michigan — Lucido prevailed in the 8th Senate District with 62% of the vote, defeating Democrat Paul Francis by 24 percentage points. The district includes Mount Clemens, St. Clair Shores, Harrison Township, Shelby Township and Washington Township.
Hornberger, who was first elected to the House in 2016, is being backed by the Michigan Freedom Fund and Great Lakes Education Project, two conservative interest groups tied to West Michigan’s DeVos family. She’s also been endorsed by former Republican state Sens. Phil Pavlov, R-St. Clair, and Jack Brandenburg, R-Harrison Township. She’s a former teacher and the current speaker pro tem in the Michigan House, meaning she holds a leadership position.
But a nonprofit called Michigan for Traditional Values, which doesn’t have to disclose its donors, sent out a mailing and set up a website criticizing Hornberger for voting against a bill in 2018 that would have required schools to submit reports on applicants about whom they found allegations of inappropriate behavior involving a minor.
Wozniak, an attorney by trade, is a former Shelby Township trustee who has been endorsed by the supervisors for Bruce, Washington and Shelby townships. In the House, Wozniak has championed a proposal to increase the fee schedule that specialized, post-acute care rehabilitation equivalents can charge in helping victims of auto crashes after the 2019 overhaul of Michigan’s auto insurance laws.
“This legislation is essential to addressing the issue of fee schedule provisions, which would leave many patients with nowhere to turn, force providers to shut down, and majorly disrupt patients’ care,” Wozniak said in a statement in March.
Mekoski has worked in law enforcement for about 35 years, including 26 years with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office. In 2020, he challenged Democratic Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham, losing by 12 percentage points.
He described himself as a “constitutionalist” and said election integrity and border security are the top two issues for primary voters in the district. He called for a “full forensic audit” of the 2020 election.
The other candidates are Mary Berlingieri, a small business owner from Washington Township; Bill Carver a truck driver from Harrison Township; Grant Golasa, a mechanical engineer from Shelby Township; and Kristi Dean of Shelby Township.
St. Clair Shores voter Jean O’Leary, a controller, said she supported Hornberger in the primary.
“She is conservative fiscally and otherwise and she is pro-life and pro-Second Amendment,” O’Leary said.
In Sterling Heights, former City Council member Ken Nelson and Mayor Michael Taylor appeared headed for the November ballot.
Nelson led 48% to 46% over Taylor in early results after the Republican incumbent said last year he voted for Joe Biden in Michigan’s Democratic March 2020 primary election. Resident Charles Jefferson, who has not been campaigning, trailed with 6%.
Macomb County backed Trump in 2016 and 2020.
The top two vote-getters in the mayoral race advance to the November election. The November winner will be in office for four years instead of the normal two years after voters approved the change.
Nelson has criticized Taylor, saying he is concerned about the direction with spending and the city’s debt, including for the approval in December of a nearly $38,000 raise for City Manager Mark Vanderpool. The move increased his salary to $202,950.
Taylor has defended his record and pointed to property values increasing 5% in the latest year.
Sterling Heights voter Robert Snyder voted Tuesday in the city’s mayor for Nelson.
“The roads are horrible, and I want more parks and safer parks,” Snyder said.
Nicholas Habib, 24, said he did not vote for the Sterling Heights incumbent because he supported Biden in the presidential election.
“That didn’t agree with me, so I went with Ken (Nelson),” Habib said.
Staff Writer Craig Mauger contributed.
