Primary recap: Incumbents roll in House races, Upton will face Hoadley

Sentinel Staff
In this May 3, 2017, file photo, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., left, speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington. Upton defeated primary challenger Elena Oelke on Tuesday, Aug. 4, and will face Democratic nominee Jon Hoadley in November.

HOLLAND — While results in some races were still pouring in during the early hours of Wednesday, the greater-Holland area Michigan House primaries that were on the ballot on Tuesday, Aug. 4, appeared to be decided well before midnight.

As results came in, a common theme appeared — none of the incumbent state representatives were in danger of losing to a primary challenger.

In Michigan’s 90th House District, encompassing parts of Holland, Zeeland and Hudsonville, incumbent Rep. Bradley Slagh, R-Zeeland, defeated challenger and Hudsonville Mayor Mark Northrup by over 54 percentage points, with a total of 9,258 votes to Northrup’s 2,742.

“I am really grateful that folks turned out to vote, especially in this environment where we did lots of absentee voting,” Slagh told The Sentinel.

“That people turned out one way or another is a great thing. Next, I’m looking to bring material out to folks that we weren’t able to this time and make some more connections than I was able to do this time.”

Incumbent Rep. Mary Whiteford, R-Casco Township, won her primary for Michigan’s 80th House District which encompasses most of Allegan County.

Whiteford defeated challenger Nevin Cooper-Keel by a margin of 11,501 votes to 2,653.

In a rare Democratic primary for the 89th House District, which is made up of municipalities in northern Ottawa County including Park Township, Holland’s Anita Brown defeated Spring Lake’s Erik Nordman 5,623 votes to 3,097.

On Twitter Tuesday night, Nordman asked followers to support Brown in the November election.

Several state House races went uncontested on Tuesday. Incumbent Reps. Jim Lilly (89th District) and Luke Meerman (88th District) were alone in their Republican primaries.

Lilly and Meerman will face challengers Brown and Franklin Cornielle, respectively. Cornielle went unchallenged in the 88th’s Democratic primary.

In the Democratic primary for the 90th District, Christopher Banks of Holland ran unopposed. He will challenge Slagh in November.

MI-06 results will see Upton face Hoadley

Longtime Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, defeated a rare primary challenger, businesswoman Elena Oelke on Tuesday. Upton, who has represented what makes up the modern day Sixth Congressional District since 1987, won the race by a margin of 26 percentage points.

Upton will face Democratic nominee Jon Hoadley in November. Hoadley, who currently serves as a representative in the state Legislature but is term-limited, defeated Jen Richardson, a teacher from Kalamazoo in a closer than expected primary.

Hoadley defeated Richardson 52.3 percentage points to 47.7. Richardson led for much of the night while early results trickled in, but a late surge in votes counted from Kalamazoo County put Hoadley in the lead.

The Associated Press officially called the race at 10:13 a.m. Wednesday.

Richardson issued a concession statement to the media Wednesday.

“It is with this statement that I hope Rep. Hoadley and the rest of the Democratic establishment take notice of what voters told us last night,” stated Richardson.

“While we didn’t come away with a victory in the election, southwest Michigan made clear that they wanted to see change from the political status quo.”

In the Second Congressional District, incumbent Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland, and Democrat Bryan Berghoef ran unopposed in their respective primaries.

— Contact reporter Arpan Lobo at alobo@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @arpanlobo.