Challenges emerge against candidates in 2 key U.S. House races in Michigan

Lansing — Challenges submitted to Michigan election officials Tuesday argued that at least two prominent U.S. House candidates should be disqualified from having their names appear on the August primary ballot.

A filing from Republicans targeted Democratic candidate Curtis Hertel of East Lansing, who's running in the battleground 7th District. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar of Detroit said he turned in a challenge against one of his Democratic primary opponents, former state Sen. Adam Hollier of Detroit, in the 13th District.

Charles Spies and Robert Avers, attorneys with the law firm Dickinson Wright, signed the challenge targeting Hertel. In it, they argued that Hertel made "fatal errors" by listing on his candidate affidavit and nominating petitions the office he's seeking as "U.S. Congress" instead of the U.S. House.

The lawyers said Hertel's documents failed to include the required title of the office he's seeking.

"This may be news to Hertel, but Congress has two distinct components: the Senate and the House of Representatives," the GOP complaint said. "Thus, naming merely 'Congress' — or even the 'U.S. Congress' — does not even identify the correct body (the U.S. House of Representatives or, alternatively, the U.S. Senate) let alone the correct 'office.'"

Hertel's nominating petitions did feature the correct district number, seven, according to an image reviewed by The Detroit News.

Hertel is seeking an open seat in the U.S. House that's currently held by Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, who's running for the U.S. Senate this year. The GOP candidate in the 7th District race is former state Sen. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, who lost the 2022 race to Slotkin.

In a statement, Hertel's campaign called the Republican challenge of his nominating petitions "a frivolous complaint."

"There is no doubt that Curtis Hertel will appear on the ballot in November," the Hertel campaign said. "This attempted challenge will be as successful as Barrett’s previous campaign for Congress.” 

Tuesday was the deadline in Michigan for challenges to be filed against the nominating petitions of candidates for most offices seeking a spot on the Aug. 6 primary ballot. The Dickinson Wright lawyers filed the challenge against Hertel on behalf of Norm Shinkle, a former Republican member of the Board of State Canvassers.

The current four-person canvassing board will have to rule on the challenge.

Thanedar’s formal challenge, filed Tuesday with Wayne County Clerk’s office, challenged 791 lines of signatures among the nearly 1,600 submitted by Hollier.

The challenge alleges that hundreds of signatures collected by Hollier’s team shouldn’t be allowed to count toward the 1,000-signature requirement on the basis that the signers either live outside the district, aren’t registered to vote, are registered at a different address, are duplicate signers or other reasons, including forged signatures.

Thanedar said he hired Lansing political consultant Mark Grebner to conduct the signature analysis.

“He chose to only submit 1,555 signatures, even though he could have submitted more. He also could have validated them, but they did not do that,” Thanedar told The Detroit News, noting candidates are allowed to submit 2,000.

“We just thought we should uphold the integrity of the process. … We don’t know how Wayne County is going to rule on this, and if they disagree with Mark Grebner’s analysis and he’s on the ballot, then so be it. And we’ll run against him in August.”

Hollier’s campaign said it turned in nearly 1,600 signatures representing voters from across the district.

"Unfortunately, Rep. Thanedar thinks he can use his deep pockets and legal tricks to silence the voices of people in this district who want change," Hollier campaign manager Jazz Webb said Tuesday in a statement. "We won’t back down and will work to make sure voters have a real choice in November.”

Thanedar is in his first term representing Michigan's 13th District, which covers much of Detroit, the Grosse Pointes and Downriver communities. He won a nine-way Democratic primary contest in 2022, with Hollier coming in second with 24% of the vote to Thanedar's 28%.

Hollier, who served in Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s cabinet, has the backing of some big-name Democrats in the district including Wayne County Executive Warren Evans and former U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence, and was recently endorsed by the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford of Nevada.

Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Waters and attorney Shakira Lynn Hawkins also filed for the Democratic ballot last week. 

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