UPPER PENINSULA, Mich. (WLUC) – Election day is less than 10 weeks away.
Retired NMU Political Science Professor Bob Kulisheck says the outcome of races like the U.S. Senate Primary are telling for the direction of both major parties.
“The more extreme elements in both the Republican and Democratic party shaped the primaries, and I think you see this on the progressive side in the Democrats, some of whom call themselves socialists, and then you have the continuing influence of the MAGA people,” Kulisheck said.
Kulisheck expects that race, and the state’s Gubernatorial race to be close. In the Gubernatorial primary, Jocelyn Benson and John James secured the Democratic and Republican nominations respectively.
James recently selected State Representative Jay DeBoyer as his Lt. Gov. pick. State Senator Winnie Brinks joins Benson to make up the first all-female ticket from a major party in Michigan.
“Usually Lt. Gov. doesn’t make a lot of difference,” Kulisheck said. “Given the gender issue this time, it could have some influence on who people will vote for. So it was an interesting selection that way, and both of them seem to be competent candidates.”
There are also open statewide races for U.S. Senate, Secretary of State and Attorney general.
In the U.P., three candidates are looking to replace Senator Ed McBroom for the 38th State Senate seat.
“LaFave got 46 percent of the vote, so there is some division there that could be problematic for the Republicans, but I think with Sara Cambensy running as an independent, she’s probably going to draw more votes away from the Democratic candidate, and I think that would work to the favor of the Republican candidate, Prestin, in this race,” Kulisheck said. “So, that’s going to be a close one.”
In that race and others representing the U.P., Kulisheck says the Line 5 Pipeline and data centers are likely to be key issues.
“People on both sides of the issue are running for office are kind of dancing around that issue,” Kulisheck said. “People say ‘well we do need the data centers but we don’t want them here.’”
The general election is set for Nov. 3.
For the full interview with Bob Kulisheck, stream Beyond the Ballot. New episodes are live every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:00 ET on the TV6 Livestream. You can also watch all previous episodes on-demand.
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