Election 2014 coverage on 97.7, The Wolf

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For the state governor’s race, click here.

For the U.S. Senate race, click here.

For the 1st U.S. Congressional District, click here.

For the 38th MI Senate District, click here.

For the 110th MI House District, click here.

For State Proposal 1, click here.

For State Proposal 2, click here.

It was a good night for the incumbents in the local and state elections. Governor Rick Snyder earned another term in office as he defeated challenger Mark Schauer. In the 1st District of the U.S. House of Representatives, incumbent Dan Benishek defeated Jerry Cannon. Attorney General Bill Schuette was re-elected, as was Secretary of State Ruth Johnson. Locally, Senator Tom Casperson defeated Christopher Germain in the 38th Senate District. Representative Scott Dianda defended his seat in the 110th House District, defeating Bob Micheals. And for the vacated U.S. Senate seat, it was Gary Peters over Terry Lynn Land in a race that surprisingly went the opposite way in many counties in the Copper Country.

The results are in and the city of Hancock have elected two new members to their city council. Incumbents Ted Belej and Lisa McKenzie were re-elected and Mary Tuisku received the second most votes on the entire ballot. For the write-ins, City Clerk Karen Haischer says Micheal Bauman has been voted into the council. However, the Board of Canvassers will make the final decision. Ron Blau and Kevin Hodur were voted in to serve Wards 1 and 2, respectively.

In the city of Houghton, Philip “Buck” Foltz put up a valiant effort but he could not get enough votes to unseat one of the four incumbents on the ballot. Robert “Bubba” Megowen, Mike Needham, Gernot Joachim and Dan Salo have all been re-elected.

The Houghton County Board of Commissioners featured two contested races. In District 1, Eugene Londo defeated Rick Kazprzak and in District 3, incumbent Tony Pintar defeated Mark Kemppainen. They will join the three other incumbents, Scott Ala, Albert Koskela and Tim Palosaari, who ran unopposed. Also, Houghton County will have a new clerk as Jennifer Kelly Loren ran unopposed.

The two state proposals didn’t do so well in comparison to the numbers in the Copper Country. Proposal 1 that would designate wolves as game species was shot down statewide by a 55-45 margin. Compare that to Keweenaw County, where 63% of voters said yes and in Houghton and Baraga Counties, 68% and 78%, voted in favor, respectively. 64% of voters statewide voted no on Proposal 2 also, which may strike a nerve with Copper Country residents in Keweenaw, Houghton and Baraga counties, where they voted in favor by 53, 55 and 63% majorities, respectively. Proposal 2 would have allowed the Natural Resources Commission to designate certain animals as game species and essentially start a hunting season without legislative approval.

Local races in many school boards were also decided. The Adams Township School Board elected three members: Steven Nicholas, John Pastore and Justin Marier. For the races involving the CLK School Board seat, the Calumet Village Trustee seats and the partial Calumet Village Trustee seats, no numbers were available.

Two local millages were passed, with one by the slimmest of margins. Osceola Township passed their Road, Sidewalk and Drainage millage by a mere three votes. In Schoolcraft Township, the residents voted yes for their road millage.

In Baraga County, only one of the commissioners races was contested, where William Menge defeated Calvin Koski. Menge will join Gale Eilola, Micheal Koskinen, Patrick Reilley and William Rolof, who all ran unopposed. For the two seats in the Arvon School Board, Mary Rogala and Nancy Soli were voted in and for the Baraga School Board, Sarah Lynn Maki, Christy Miron, Sheila Osterman and Byron Sailor received the most votes. And in the L’Anse School Board, Joan Bugni, Christine Collins and Allan Dantes, Jr. were voted in. In the lone contested race in Keweenaw County for the County Road Commissioner, Richard Schaeffer defeated Ed Tulppo.