Primaries to decide E.L legislators' opponents

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In addition to the prominent gubernatorial race featured on the 2010 ballot, East Lansing’s incumbent state senator and representative both are up for re-election, facing a Republican challenge for their seats in the Michigan Legislature.

Running as the uncontested Democrat in the Aug. 3 primary, state Rep. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing, will encounter one of two Republican challengers in the November general election. The GOP contenders, U.S. Army veteran and General Motors Corp. lineworker Frank Lambert and Meridian Township Supervisor Susan McGillicuddy, will face off in the Aug. 3 primary.

Also uncontested in the Democratic primary, state Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, will battle an uncontested Republican challenger, MSU law student Kyle Haubrich.

Lambert, who ran unsuccessful campaigns for the state Senate in 2006 and the state House in 2008, said he chose to run again because Michigan’s lawmakers have not fixed the numerous problems plaguing the state.

“We have all the same problems we did four years ago (and) six years ago,” Lambert said. “Every year we have a budget deficit (and) every year they overspend.”

An MSU alumna and 10-year Meridian Township supervisor, McGillicuddy said she hopes to cut taxes for both individuals and businesses to relieve financial burdens and bring in business to the state.

“Our population is being taxed to death and is getting very little (in) return,” McGillicuddy said. “Businesses have been fleeing this state because of the tax burden, so now we find ourselves in this precarious situation.”

Meadows, an MSU alumnus, two-term incumbent and former East Lansing mayor, said he has been campaigning door-to-door in the district since April 15 and said if he is reelected, he plans to continue working to fix Michigan’s economy.

“My priorities are to continue to fight for more education dollars, to continue to propose legislation and pursue legislation that can get Michigan moving again and to redesign state government so that we remove some impediments to job growth within the state,” Meadows said.

Since both candidates are uncontested in their own party, the Senate race likely will not heat up until November, when Whitmer faces Haubrich.

A student of MSU’s College of Law, Haubrich never has run for public office. But as a college student and a father of young children, Haubrich said he understands the concerns of students. His top priority is the return of the Michigan Promise Scholarship, funded by earmarked tax-deductible donations rather than tax dollars.

“It seemed like every time the students turned around they were getting smacked upside the head,” Haubrich said.

Whitmer, an MSU alumna, first was elected to the state House in 2000 and then to the state Senate in 2006. She currently serves on four standing committees in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Despite her 10 years in Michigan’s Legislature, Whitmer said she never assumes she will be re-elected

“I still feel fortunate to serve, despite the fact that I have been in the minority (party) the whole time,” Whitmer said.

McGillicuddy easily will win the Aug. 3 Republican primary against Lambert, but none of the three GOP candidates will unseat the Democratic incumbents on Nov. 2, said Bill Ballenger, editor and publisher of political newsletter “Inside Michigan Politics.”

“You just can’t beat a Democrat in that district, especially an incumbent,” Ballenger said. “Neither seat has had a Republican representing it in three decades.”

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