Herzberg, Xiong win Metro Detroit primaries for Democratic-leaning Michigan House seats

Westland City Councilman Peter Herzberg and Macomb County Commissioner Mai Xiong will advance in a race to fill two vacant seats in the Michigan House, where the Democrats are expected to win the April general elections in the Democratic-leaning House districts.

Herzberg won a special primary election Tuesday night for the 25th House District, beating out four other Democratic candidates that included one endorsed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, according to unofficial Wayne County results.

Herzberg led with about 35.6% of the vote in the 25th House District, made up primarily of the cities of Westland and Wayne, and fellow Westland council member Andrea Rutkowski had 29.9% and Layla Taha won 21.8% of ballots cast. The district includes parts of Dearborn Heights and Canton Township.

Xiong won the 13th House District Democratic primary, with 78.9% of the overall vote. Her win included 88% of the vote in the city of Warren and 44.3% of the vote in northeast Detroit precincts that make up part of the 13th House District, according to unofficial results.

LaMar Lemmons III, a Black Detroit political consultant seeking the seat, took second with 14.9% of the overall vote. Lemmons won a mere 5.6% in the city of Warren but 50.2% of the vote in the Detroit area of the district. Still, Lemmon's gains in Detroit weren't enough to counter Xiong's landslide vote total in Warren in the overall primary.

In the Republican primary for the 13th House, Ronald Singer won the race with 63% of the overall vote, including 63% in the city of Warren and 40% of the 25 votes cast in the Republican primary in Detroit, according to unofficial results.

Voters in the 13th and 25th House districts were deciding which candidates advance to the April 16 special election to replace Democratic state Reps. Lori Stone and Kevin Coleman, both of whom were elected mayors in Warren and Westland, respectively, in November. Herzberg is Coleman's cousin.

The winners of the Democratic primaries are likely to be shoe-ins for the vacant House seats since the districts are largely Democratic-leaning areas of Wayne and Macomb counties.

The winners of the seat will serve a partial term ending Jan. 1, 2025 and will need to run again in the August primary and November general election if they'd like to retain their seats for a full, two-year term after that. It's likely that the 13th House District will change significantly ahead of the August primary, as it is expected to be impacted by the state redistricting commission's court-ordered redraw of select districts.

House Democrats hope the April elections will break the current 54-54 tie and restore Democrats' narrow 56-54 majority in the House. The House has largely been at a standstill since the first of the year, as House Republican Leader Matt Hall insists on shared power and Democratic House Speaker Joe Tate refuses to loosen his grip on the gavel.

Running in the Westland area 25th House District Democratic primary were Herzberg and Rutkowski — who had been endorsed by Whitmer — Wayne-Westland Community Schools board member Melandie Hines and Democratic campaign workers Layla Taha and Shannon Rochon.

Herzberg will face off against the lone Republican who's entered the race, Josh Powell.

In the Warren-based 13th House District, three Democrats were competing in Tuesday's primary: Lemmons, who is a former state representative; Warren church administrator Suzanne Ostosh; and Xiong, who had been endorsed by Whitmer. The district includes a portion of northeast Detroit along the Warren border.

In the Republican primary, Singer, an engineering professional, faced Warren resident Brandon Cumbee and pastor Curtiss Ostosh — Suzanne Ostosh’s husband.

Whitmer announced the special elections for Coleman and Stone's seats in late November, giving candidates mere days to consider entering the race and clerks an extremely short timeline to prepare.

Voter turnout on the snowy Tuesday primary appeared nominal and relied heavily on absentee voting, with 87% of the ballots cast in the 25th House District Democratic primary coming from absentee voters, according to unofficial results.

Senta Morgan, a respiratory therapist, said she cast a ballot for Xiong at the Warren Woods Educational Center Tuesday.

Morgan said she met Xiong last week while the candidate was knocking on doors in her neighborhood. Another member of Xiong's campaign also came to Morgan’s house this week, she said.

She described Xiong as “persistent" and liked that Xiong is a minority and female candidate.

“She’s like a down to earth person,” Morgan said. “I can relate to her story, her background, her struggle, her schooling.”

Warren resident Bruce Gregarek declined to share for whom he voted, but he said he would like his state representative to back away from government support for electric vehicles. His wife said they support a greener environment, but they don’t think “electric cars are it."

“Everything you have to do to get the batteries is not green, so it’s like it’s counterproductive,” Bruce Gregarek said.

Westland resident Terrie Patterson, 59, said she came out to vote at the William P. Faust Public Library on Tuesday because she wanted to make sure the candidate she supported “got in” and she wanted to “at least participate.” She voted for Taha for the 25th District seat because Taha is “for the people” and she likes who’s backing her — U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit, whose campaign Taha worked for.

“I like what she’s standing for — for families, for values, morals and integrity,” said Patterson, a Democrat.

She said she would have liked Taha to bring improvements to the Westland area and also focus on the school system. She’d like schools to “acknowledge our children on all of the history” — including Black, Native American and Hispanic history.

This would give them “a full understanding of their past," Patterson said. “This can help create their vision for the future if they knew exactly where they came from."

eleblanc@detroitnews.com

asnabes@detroitnews.com