The 2016 United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan were held on November 8, 2016, to elect the 14 U.S. representatives from the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, one from each of the state's 14

congressional districts Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional body. Countries with congressional districts includ ...

. The elections coincided with the

2016 U.S. presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and ...

, as well as other elections to the House of Representatives,

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

in 33 other states and various

and

local elections Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

. The deadline for candidates to file for the August 2 primary election was April 19.

Results summary

Results of the 2016 House of Representatives elections in Michigan by district:

District 1

When Republican

Dan Benishek Daniel Joseph Benishek (April 20, 1952 – October 15, 2021) was an American physician and politician who served three terms as the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2017. He was a member of the Republican Party. Early life and education Be ...

first ran to represent Michigan's 1st congressional district in the

2010 elections This is a list of elections that were held in 2010. * 2010 United Nations Security Council election * 2010 national electoral calendar * 2010 local electoral calendar Africa * 2010 Burkinabé presidential election * 2010 Burundian Senate election * ...

, he pledged to serve no more than three terms. In March 2015, he decided to run for a fourth term as the district's representative. However, he changed his mind in September and decided not to seek re-election. On June 24,

Michigan Democratic Party The Michigan Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Michigan. It is based in Lansing. Curtis Hertel Jr. is the party's current chair. Structure Residents of the state of Michigan at least 16 years of age are ...

chairman Lon Johnson declared his run for the seat. Former Democratic nominee Jerry Cannon also announced his candidacy. Republican state senator Tom Casperson announced his run in November 2015. Casperson was challenged in the Republican primary by former state legislator Jason Allen, who announced he was running in January 2016, and retired U.S. Marine

Jack Bergman John Warren Bergman (born February 2, 1947) is an American politician and retired United States Marine Corps lieutenant general serving as the U.S. representative from Michigan's 1st congressional district since 2017. He is a member of the Re ...

, who declared in March. In January 2016, Benishek endorsed Casperson's candidacy. In the August 2 primary, Jack Bergman won the GOP nomination and Lon Johnson won the Democratic nomination.

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= *

, retired

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

=Eliminated in primary

= * Jason Allen, former state senator and candidate for this district in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

* Tom Casperson, state senator

=Declined

= *

, incumbent U.S. Representative ''(endorsed Casperson)''

Endorsements

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Lon Johnson, former Michigan Democratic Party chairman

=Eliminated in primary

= * Jerry Cannon, retired

Michigan Army National Guard The Michigan Army National Guard is the Army component of the Michigan National Guard and a reserve component of the United States Army. During the Cold War, the 156th Signal Battalion was federalized on 1 October 1962 at its home stations in res ...

Major General, former Kalkaska County Sheriff and nominee for this seat 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 ...

=Declined

= * Scott Dianda,

state representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United St ...

Endorsements

Results

Libertarian convention

Nominated

* Diane Bostow, Gwinn resident

General election

Debate

Endorsements

Predictions

Results

District 2

Republican incumbent Rep.

Bill Huizenga William Patrick Huizenga ( ; born January 31, 1969) is an American politician serving as a U.S. representative from Michigan since 2011, representing the state's 4th congressional district. A member of the Republican Party, Huizenga served in t ...

ran for re-election. His Democratic opponent was Dennis Murphy, and his Libertarian opponent was Kentwood City Commissioner Erwin Haas.

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= *

, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Dennis Murphy, engineer

Results

General election

Endorsements

Predictions

Results

District 3

Republican incumbent Rep. Justin Amash ran for re-election. His Democratic opponent was Douglas Smith.

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Justin Amash, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Douglas Smith

Results

General election

Predictions

Results

District 4

Republican incumbent Rep.

John Moolenaar John Robert Moolenaar ( ; born May 8, 1961) is an American chemist and politician serving as a U.S. representative from Michigan since 2015, representing the state's 2nd congressional district since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he se ...

ran for re-election. His Libertarian opponent was Leonard Schwartz. Keith Butkovich was the candidate for the Natural Law Party, George Zimmer for the U.S. Taxpayers Party and George Salvi for the Green Party. There was no Democratic opponent on the August primary ballot, but Debra Wirth launched a successful write-in campaign to be the Democratic nominee for the November election.

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= *

, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Debra Friedell Wirth, attorney and nominee for this seat 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 ...

(write-in)

Results

General election

Predictions

Results

District 5

Democratic incumbent Rep.

Dan Kildee Daniel Timothy Kildee (; born August 11, 1958) is an American politician who served as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from Michigan from 2013 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Par ...

ran for re-election. His Republican opponent was Al Hardwick.

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= *

, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Allen Hardwick, computer repairman and nominee for this seat in

Results

Libertarian convention

Nominated

*Steve Sluka

General election

Endorsements

Predictions

Results

District 6

Incumbent

Fred Upton Frederick Stephen Upton (born April 23, 1953) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1987 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he represented Kalamazoo, Michigan, ...

sought re-election to his House seat. His Democratic challenger in 2014, Paul Clements, ran again.

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= *

, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Paul Clements, political science professor and nominee for this seat in

Results

Libertarian convention

Nominated

Lorence Wenke Lorence R. Wenke (born October 9, 1945) is an American politician from the state of Michigan. He is a former member of the Michigan House of Representatives. Career Wenke served in the Michigan House of Representatives. In 2004, Wenke was one of ...

, former state representative

General election

Endorsements

Predictions

Results

District 7

The 7th district is located in

Southern Michigan Southern Michigan is a loosely defined geographic area of the U.S. state of Michigan. Southern Michigan may be referred to as a sub-region or component area to other regions of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. It is an area of rolling farmland, ...

. The incumbent was Republican

Tim Walberg Timothy Lee Walberg (born April 12, 1951) is an American politician serving as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from Michigan since 2011, representing the state's Michigan's 5th congressional district, 5th congression ...

, who had represented the district since 2011 and previously represented the district from 2007 to 2009. He was re-elected with 53% of the vote in 2014, and the district has a PVI of R+3. Walberg was challenged by Doug North. Democratic state representative

Gretchen Driskell Gretchen Demarest Driskell (born October 1, 1958) is an American politician, accountant, and real estate agent from the state of Michigan. A member of the Democratic Party, she served in the Michigan House of Representatives, representing the 5 ...

, the former mayor of Saline, announced that she would run against Walberg in 2016, as would Libertarian Ken Proctor. Walberg won the Republican nomination.

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= *

, incumbent U.S. Representative

=Eliminated in primary

= * Doug North

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= *

, state representative

=Declined

= *

Pam Byrnes Pam Byrnes (born June 25, 1947) is a former Democratic State Representative in the Michigan State House of Representatives, representing the 52nd District, which covers parts of Washtenaw County. On July 18, 2013, Pam Byrnes announced that sh ...

, former state representative and nominee for this seat in

Results

Libertarian convention

Nominated

* Ken Proctor

General election

Endorsements

Polling

Predictions

Results

District 8

Freshman Republican incumbent Mike Bishop ran for re-election. He ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Mike Bishop, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Democratic primary

Two candidates were originally slated to face each other in the Democratic primary. They were former actress

Melissa Gilbert Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1964) is an American actress. Gilbert began her career as a child actress in the late 1960s, appearing in numerous commercials and guest-starring roles on television. From 1974 to 1983, she starred as Laura Ing ...

(''

Little House on the Prairie The ''Little House on the Prairie'' books comprise a series of American children's novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder (b. Laura Elizabeth Ingalls). The stories are based on her childhood and adulthood in the Midwestern United States, Americ ...

'') and a former president of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

, and Linda Keefe. Gilbert withdrew from the race in May 2016 due to health issues, and at that time Keefe did not appear to have collected enough valid petition signatures to be placed on the ballot. On July 6, 2016, Democrats introduced 29-year-old Suzanna Shkreli, an Assistant Macomb County Prosecutor to be the party's nominee. At the time of Shkreli's announcement, it was still unclear if

Michigan Secretary of State The Michigan Department of State is a principal executive department of the government of Michigan. It is responsible for administering Election, elections, regulating Notary public, notaries public, and maintaining records of statutes and the S ...

Ruth Johnson Ruth Johnson (born January 8, 1955) is an American businesswoman and politician currently serving as a member of the Michigan Senate since 2019. She was the 42nd Secretary of State of Michigan from 2011 to 2019 and a member of the Michigan House ...

would allow Gilbert to be removed from the ballot. Johnson said that the Office of the Secretary of State would not make a ruling until after the state's August 2 primary. Gilbert's name remained on the ballot. On August 2, Gilbert received the most votes in the Democratic primary, receiving 28,810 votes, despite previously announcing her withdrawal from the race. Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Brandon Dillon said the day after that the party would begin the process to remove Gilbert from the November ballot and replace her with Shkreli within 48 hours. Bishop's campaign described Gilbert's attempt to be removed from the ballot as unprecedented. A Democratic campaign spokesman said they had retained legal counsel for the process. The Michigan state elections director said that Gilbert's name could be removed from the ballot in the general election. On August 22, 2016, the state board of canvassers allowed Gilbert's name to be replaced on the November ballot with that of Shkreli.

Nominee

* Suzanna Shkreli, Assistant Macomb County Prosecutor

Failed to qualify

* Linda Keefe, former Windsor Township Clerk (disqualified from primary ballot for lack of signatures)

=Withdrawn

= *

, actress and former president of the

Results

Libertarian convention

Nominated

* Jeff Wood

General election

Endorsements

Predictions

Polling

Results

District 9

Democratic incumbent Rep.

Sander Levin Sander Martin Levin (born September 6, 1931) is an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 2019, representing (numbered as the from 1983 to 1993 and as the from 1993 to 2013). Levin, a member ...

ran for re-election. His Republican challenger was Christopher Morse, and his Libertarian opponent was Matt Orlando.

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= *

, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Christopher Morse

Results

Libertarian convention

Nominated

* Matthew Orlando

General election

Predictions

Endorsements

Results

District 10

Republican incumbent

Candice Miller Candice Sue Miller (née McDonald; born May 7, 1954) is an American politician serving as the Public Works Commissioner of Macomb County, Michigan since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Miller previously served as the U.S. representative ...

, who had represented the 10th district since 2003, did not run for reelection. State representative Tony Forlini,

State Senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

Phil Pavlov, businessman Paul Mitchell, former state senator Alan Sanborn, and retired military veteran David VanAssche were seeking the Republican nomination to succeed Miller. State Senator Jack Brandenburg considered entering the race, but declared in January 2016 that he would not run. Paul Mitchell won the Republican nomination.

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Paul Mitchell, businessman

=Eliminated in primary

= * Tony Forlini, state representative * Phil Pavlov, state senator * Alan Sanborn, former state senator * David VanAssche

=Withdrew

= * Michael Flynn, Shelby Township Treasurer

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Frank Acavitti Jr.

Results

Libertarian convention

Nominated

* Lisa Gioia

General election

Endorsements

Predictions

Results

District 11

The 11th district is located northwest of

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. The incumbent was Republican Dave Trott, who had represented the district since 2015. He was elected in 2014, winning the general election with 55.9% of the vote. He ran for re-election. Anil Kumar was his Democratic opponent, and Jonathan Osment was his Libertarian opponent.

Kerry Bentivolio Kerry Lynn Bentivolio (born October 6, 1951) is an American politician and educator who is the former United States Representative for , in office from 2013 to 2015. Bentivolio, a Republican, defeated Democratic nominee Syed Taj, a physician, ...

, who represented the 11th District from 2013 to 2015 and lost to Trott in the 2014 Republican primary, announced on July 21, 2016, that he planned to seek the seat as an independent after losing to Osment in the Libertarian convention.

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Dave Trott, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Anil Kumar, physician

Results

Libertarian convention

Nominated

* Jonathan Osment

Independent

, former U.S. Representative

General election

Predictions

Endorsements

Results

District 12

Democratic first term congresswoman

Debbie Dingell Deborah Ann Dingell ( ; ; November 23, 1953) is an American politician serving as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from Michigan since 2015, representing the state's Michigan's 6th congressional district, 6th congres ...

ran for re-election and was unopposed in the primary. Jeff Jones was the Republican challenger, a Taylor resident, a former independent

candidate in 2014. Also running was Tom Bagwell of Wyandotte, libertarian activist and former Ypsilanti Township Park Commissioner who won the Libertarian Party nomination for District 12 on May 14, 2016, in Lansing, Michigan.

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= *

, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Jeff Jones

Results

Libertarian convention

Nominated

*Tom Bagwell

General election

Endorsements

Predictions

Results

District 13

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 ...

, a Democrat, the incumbent representative in the 13th district, had served 26 terms in Congress and was the

Dean of the United States House of Representatives The dean of the United States House of Representatives is the longest continuously serving member of United States House of Representatives, the House. The current dean is Hal Rogers, a Republican Party (United States), Republican from Kentucky, ...

and City Clerk Janice Winfrey ran against Conyers in the Democratic Party primary election. Jeff Gorman ran on the Republican side, and Tiffany Hayden ran on the Libertarian side. Conyers won the nomination.

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= *

, incumbent U.S. Representative

=Defeated in primary

= * Janice Winfrey, Detroit city clerk

=Failed to qualify

= * Kenneth Garner

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Jeff Gorman

Results

Libertarian convention

Nominated

* Tiffany Hayden

General election

Predictions

Endorsements

Results

District 14

Democratic incumbent Rep.

Brenda Lawrence Brenda Lawrence (née Lulenar; born October 18, 1954) is an American retired politician who served as the U.S. representative from Michigan's 14th congressional district from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, Lawrence served as ma ...

sought re-election and had two Democratic challengers, Terrance Morrison and Vanessa Moss. Lawrence won the Democratic nomination. The Republican candidate was Howard Klausner and the Libertarian candidate was Gregory Creswell.

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= *

, incumbent U.S. Representative

=Defeated in primary

= * Terrance Morrison * Vanessa Moss

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Howard Klausner

Results

Libertarian convention

Nominated

* Gregory Creswell

General election

Endorsements

Predictions

Results

References

External links

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John Conyers