A special election for

Michigan's 13th congressional district Michigan's 13th congressional district is a United States List of United States congressional districts, congressional district in Wayne County, Michigan. It is currently represented by Democratic Party (United States), Democrat Shri Thanedar. ...

was held on November 6, 2018, following the resignation of Democratic U.S. Representative

John Conyers John James Conyers Jr. (May 16, 1929October 27, 2019) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1965 to 2017. Conyers was the sixth-longest serving member of Congress and the lo ...

. The Democratic primary was held on August 7, 2018. No Republican candidate ran in the special election, making the win in the Democratic primary

tantamount to election A safe seat is an electoral district which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. With such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing h ...

in this district. Both the primary for this election and primary for the regular election were concurrent; similarly, the special election was held the same day as regular election. The winner of the regular Democratic primary was former State Representative

Rashida Tlaib Rashida Harbi Tlaib ( ; born July 24, 1976) is an American lawyer and politician serving as a U.S. representative from Michigan since 2019, representing the state's 12th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, sh ...

, who went on to win the regular general election. The winner of the special Democratic primary was Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, who served from November 29, 2018, to January 3, 2019.

Background

Incumbent U.S. Representative

announced on December 5, 2017, that he would resign after a sexual harassment scandal. He had represented the 13th and its predecessors since 1965 (it was numbered as the 1st from 1965 to 1993 and as the 14th from 1993 to 2013), and was the longest-serving member of the House at the time. Three days after Conyers' resignation,

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Rick Snyder Richard Dale Snyder (born August 19, 1958) is an American business executive, venture capitalist, attorney, accountant, and politician who served as the 48th governor of Michigan from 2011 to 2019. Snyder, who was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, ...

set a date for the special election. It was scheduled for November 6, 2018, concurrent with the regular election for a full two-year term. Primaries were held on August 7. The filing deadline for candidates was April 24, 2018. As a result, the 13th's seat remained vacant for nearly a year.

Republican primary

Candidates

Failed to qualify

* David Dudenhoefer, author and photographer

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

Ian Conyers Ian Kyle Conyers (born October 28, 1988) is an American politician and businessman who represented the 4th District of Michigan in the Michigan Senate for one term. Conyers sat on the Economic Development & International Investment, Energy & ...

, state senator * Brenda Jones, president of the

Detroit City Council The Detroit City Council is the legislative body of Detroit, Michigan, United States. The full-time council is required to meet every business day for at least 10 months of the year, with at least eight of these meetings occurring at a locatio ...

, former state representative * Bill Wild, mayor of Westland

Failed to qualify

* John Conyers III, hedge fund manager (running as an independent) *Kimberly Hill Knott, government relations,

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement that addresses injustice that occurs when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit. The movement has gene ...

Withdrew

* Michael Gilmore, attorney and activist

Declined

* Warren Evans, Wayne County Executive * Shanelle Jackson, former state representative and candidate for MI-13 in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

(running in MI-13 regular election) *

Greg Mathis Gregory Ellis Mathis (born April 5, 1960), also known as Judge Mathis, is an African-American former court judge for Michigan's Michigan's 36th House of Representatives district, 36th District, who is now a Television show, television court show ...

, television personality and former judge * Horace Sheffield, pastor and candidate for MI-13 in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

* Coleman Young II, state senator and candidate for

mayor of Detroit This is a list of mayors of Detroit, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The current mayor is Mike Duggan, who was sworn into office on January 1, 2014. History of Detroit's executive authority During the earliest part of its history, Detroit was a ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

(running for MI-13 regular election)

Endorsements

Results

General election

Campaign

Brenda Jones won the Democratic primary for the special election, but lost the Democratic primary for the regular election to

. Both the special primary and regular primary were held concurrently. Jones won the special election on November 6, and served for just over eight weeks.

Predictions

Results

References

External links

Official campaign websites
Brenda Jones (D) for Congress
{{2018 United States elections 2018 2018 13 Michigan 13 Michigan 2018 13 Michigan 13 United States House of Representatives 13 United States House of Representatives 2018 13 November 2018 in the United States John Conyers