Democrats Flip State Senate Held by Republicans for 40 Years

Democrats have flipped the Michigan state senate, which had been held by Republicans for almost 40 years.

All 38 seats in the upper chamber of the Michigan Legislature were up for grabs in Tuesday's election.

A poll challenger oversees election inspectors
A poll challenger oversees election inspectors at the Huntington Place convention center on November 8, 2022 in Detroit, Michigan. Democrats now hold the Michigan State Senate after almost 40 years of control by the GOP. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Democrats have not controlled the Michigan Senate since the early 1980s, but political district maps being redrawn by an independent redistricting commission gave the party a chance of taking it in 2022.

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FiveThirtyEight has reported that Democrats had taken control of the Michigan state House and state Senate overnight. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also won a second four-year term in Tuesday's election after defeating Tudor Dixon, meaning Democrats will now have full control of Michigan's state government.

Michigan "sets the tone tonight for how Democrats can win in a tough environment," State Rep. Mari Manoogian tweeted early Wednesday. "There are still many votes left to be counted, but I am genuinely so proud of the example we have set here for how Democrats—particularly Dem women—can be compassionate, tough as nails, and win."

Jonathan Hanson, a lecturer at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, told Newsweek that the result "shows what happens when the district lines are drawn through a fair process.

"The districts in Michigan had been written by Republicans 10 years ago, and it made it very difficult to have competitive races across the board. The new districts are much more fair, and they created a much more competitive situation and so that laid the groundwork for what we saw happen."

Hanson says he believes Democrats benefited from voters who were motivated to turn out to vote to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

Turnout was "accentuated by the presence of an important ballot initiative to guarantee reproductive rights," Hanson said.

"This is a response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. And in Michigan, that would have meant that abortion was made illegal for all cases, except [to save] the life of the pregnant woman.

"I think that issue became a big vote mobilizer for Democrats statewide, and it helped the Democrats in the state across the board in a number of races."

Thomas Gift, the founding director of University College London's Centre on U.S. Politics, told Newsweek that it is "possible to read too much into how these results deviate from historical trends."

"The flip in the Michigan state senate may simply be an artifact of new electoral maps configured by an independent commission," Gift said.

But he added the result could cause concern to Republicans ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

"The fact that Republicans couldn't maintain control of the chamber in an election where many experts were predicting a 'red wave' nationally doesn't bode well for the GOP," Gift said. "Given Michigan's status as a key battleground, it could prompt broader worries among Republicans about whether the state is winnable in 2024."

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About the writer


Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on abortion rights, race, education, ... Read more

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