The 2012 United States Senate election in Michigan was held on November 6, 2012, alongside the 2012 United States presidential election, other elections to the United States Senate in other states, as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Incumbent Debbie Stabenow was re-elected in 2006 with 57% of the vote to 41%. She defeated Oakland County sheriff and former State Senate Majority Leader Michael Bouchard after narrowly defeating Republican incumbent Spencer Abraham in 2000. The deadline for candidates to file for the August 7 primary was May 15. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow was re-elected to a third term after being unopposed in the Democratic primary. The Republican nominee was former Congressman Pete Hoekstra. Stabenow defeated Hoekstra by a landslide 20.8% margin and nearly one million votes.
Democratic primary
Republican primary
Candidates Qualified/On ballot Clark Durant, co-founder of the Cornerstone Schools Gary Glenn, conservative activist (suspended his campaign and endorsed Clark Durant) Randy Hekman, former juvenile court judge Pete Hoekstra, former U.S. representative
Filed to run, but failed to qualify Scotty Boman (switched back to the Libertarian Party) Peter Konetchy, businessman Chuck Marino, businessman Rick Wilson, retired autoworker and unsuccessful candidate for the 5th district in 2010
Declined to file Justin Amash, U.S. Representative Saul Anuzis, former Michigan Republican Party chairman Frank Beckmann, talk show host Mike Bishop, former State Senate Majority Leader Jase Bolger, Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives Mike Cox, former Michigan attorney general Chad Dewey, businessman John Engler, former governor Terri Lynn Land, former Michigan secretary of state Thaddeus McCotter, former U.S. representative John McCulloch, Oakland County Water Resources commissioner (dropped out) Candice Miller, U.S. representative and former Michigan secretary of state Rob Steele, cardiothoracic surgeon
Campaign The GOP primary campaign was mainly a battle between Hoekstra and Durant, as they were the most visible in running campaign ads. Despite Durant's attack ads, Hoekstra was leading in the polls for the Republican nomination.
On July 20, Glenn suspended his campaign and endorsed Durant; however, his name was still on the ballot due to the time of his withdrawal.
Hoekstra ad controversy
Hoekstra targeted Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow with a television ad which ran statewide during the 2012 Super Bowl. The 30-second ad opened with the sound of a gong and showed an Asian woman riding a bike in a rice paddy and talking in pidgin English. The ad is critical of government spending by Stabenow and mocks her name, with the Asian woman saying, "Thank you, Michigan Senator Debbie Spenditnow". The commercial asks viewers to visit Hoekstra's website, which had statistics about federal spending beside images of Chinese flags, currency and stereotypical Chinatown font. In the HTML code on Hoekstra's site the woman in the ad was reportedly previously identified as "yellowgirl". It has since been removed.
Asian-American groups called the ad "very disturbing", national GOP consultant Mike Murphy said it was "really, really dumb", and Foreign Policy magazine managing editor Blake Hounshell called it "despicable". A coalition of black ministers in Detroit called for Hoekstra to apologize. Two of Hoekstra's GOP opponents, Clark Durant and Gary Glenn, questioned whether Hoekstra was the right candidate for Republicans to support. The ad was called "blatantly racist" by Michael Yaki, former aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Journalist James Fallows of The Atlantic called it the "most revolting ad". The NAACP denounced the ad as an "unnecessary race card." Some warned the ad would revive discrimination against Asian-Americans in Michigan where smashing imported cars was common in the 1980s, and in 1982 Chinese-American Vincent Chin was beaten to death by two unemployed autoworkers angry about Japanese competition. Critics also pointed out that Hoekstra voted for the $700-billion Wall Street bailout and voted for trillions more in deficit spending while he was in Congress.
A Public Policy Polling poll released on February 14 showed Stabenow leading Hoekstra 51%-37%. In April 2012, Stabenow's campaign reported that she had had her best fundraising quarter ever, taking $1.5m from January to March 2012, which they said was in part due to the advertisement.Sobel, Julie. Stabenow Has Record $1.5 Million Quarter . National Journal, April 4, 2012. Hoekstra's campaign, meanwhile, reported disappointing fundraising numbers for the first quarter of 2012, raising just $700,000, down almost $300,000 from the final quarter of 2011.McAuliff, Michael Pete Hoekstra Fundraising Drops After Offensive Super Bowl Ad. Huffington Post, April 13, 2012.
Despite the criticism, the ad was a factor in Hoekstra's Republican primary victory.
Polling Poll source ClarkDurant GaryGlenn RandyHekman PeteHoekstra PeterKonetchy Other/UndecidedPublic Policy PollingPublic Policy Polling May 24–27, 2012 360 ±5.2% 11% 4% 4% 42% 0% 38%Public Policy PollingPublic Policy Polling July 21–23, 2012 452 ±4.6% 17% — 4% 51% 1% 26%
Results
General election
Candidates Scott Boman (Libertarian), college professor and libertarian activist Pete Hoekstra (Republican), former U.S. congressman John Litle (Natural Law Party) Richard Matkin (U.S. Taxpayers Party of Michigan) Harley Mikkelson (Green) Debbie Stabenow (Democratic), incumbent U.S. senator and former U.S. congresswoman
Fundraising Candidate (party) Receipts Disbursements Cash on hand Debt Debbie Stabenow (D) $10,625,660 $11,376,831 $1,281,907 $0 Pete Hoekstra (R) $5,827,123 $5,550,301 $277,855 $0 Scott Boman (L) $10,280 $10,265 $12 $0 Source: Federal Election Commission
Top contributors
Debbie Stabenow Contribution Pete Hoekstra Contribution EMILY's List $107,650 PVS Chemicals $40,000 DTE Energy $89,150 Caidan Management $33,000 JP Morgan Chase & Co $70,300 Amway $31,300 Blue Cross & Blue Shield $51,682 Dickstein Shapiro LLP $20,999 University of Michigan $45,362 Haworth Inc. $20,000 Vestar Capital Partners $39,950 American Axle & Manufacturing $17,500 Demmer Corp $39,800 Centra Inc $17,000 General Motors $38,350 Byrne Electrical Specialists $15,500 Ford Motor Co $35,375 RA Miller Industries $15,000 Goldman Sachs $34,500 Suburban Collection $15,000
Top industries
Debbie Stabenow Contribution Pete Hoekstra Contribution Lawyers/law firms $622,208 Retired $329,199 Financial institutions $589,188 Real estate $124,050 Health professionals $454,525 Republican/Conservative $105,400 Retired $377,484 Manufacturing & distributing $84,300 Lobbyists $340,063 Leadership PACs $83,750 Hospitals/Nursing homes $316,122 Lawyers/law firms $82,059 Agribusiness $287,603 Automotive industry $68,150 Insurance $286,675 Chemical industry $58,500 Women's issues $277,570 Health services/HMOs $58,000 Leadership PACs $263,500 Business services $56,493
Debates A number of United States Senate debates were held in the 2012 election cycle, but none included more than two of the general election candidates at a time. Incumbent senator Debbie Stabenow did not attend any of them. Before the primary, non-partisan Tea Party groups hosted debates which were open to all candidates; however, all but one were attended exclusively by Republican primary candidates.
The exception was the Romeo Area Tea Party Forum, on May 21, 2012, which included Scotty Boman after he changed his affiliation from Republican to Libertarian. Republican Pete Hoekstra had originally been scheduled to participate in the debate, but withdrew because he objected to the participation of one of the candidates. The Romeo forum was hosted by WJR AM radio talk show host Frank Beckmann, who said the candidate Hoekstra objected to was Boman.Webcitation link archived, but long link is different. The same video was reposted here.
There were debates in Dewitt, Zeeland, and Dearborn, which were attended by both Pete Hoekstra and Scotty Boman, who both qualified for the general election.
After the primary election, some forums were held which were attended by one of the invited United States Senate candidates, but only two post-primary debates were held which more than one general election candidate attended: Libertarian Scotty Boman and Green Party candidate Harley Mikkelson attended forums hosted by the League of Women Voters of Alpena County on October 23, and at Gaylord High School on October 24.
Controversy about debate qualifications
Since 1996, WGVU and the Detroit Economic Club had hosted United States Senate debates that featured all United States Senate candidates who met certain qualifications. In 1994, all balloted candidates were included in the televised debate on WKAR, but after then, only major party candidates qualified.
Pete Hoekstra and Debbie Stabenow had agreed in principle to debate, but failed to reach a consensus on the number of debates.
On October 9, Scotty Boman issued a press release in which he claimed polling results qualified him for the debates. On October 11, the Stabenow campaign issued a statement saying she was "...ending the ongoing debate over debates, due to Congressman Hoekstra's refusal to accept the traditional U.S. Senate debates and his constant political attacks." The Hoekstra campaign responded, "Debbie Stabenow's campaign refused to negotiate in good faith during the entire process."
Hoekstra continued to ask Stabenow to debate him, and attended at least three debates at which he was the only participant. On October 11, he attended a health care debate sponsored by the Independent Choice Network. On October 18, he attended a debate in Midland hosted by a group of local business leaders. Boman offered to participate in the October 18 debate, but Hoekstra's campaign manager Greg VanWoerkom said it was too late for Boman to participate, since he had had his chance to debate Hoekstra before the August primary, when he was running as a Republican. At the time, Hoekstra was scheduled to debate with Mikkelson and Boman at Gaylord High School on October 24, but Hoekstra did not attend. On October 23, Hoekstra held a debate in Kentwood.
As an alternative to the traditional WGVU debate, the station produced two back-to-back interviews with Stabenow and Hoekstra.
Predictions Source Ranking As of The Cook Political Report November 1, 2012 Sabato's Crystal Ball November 5, 2012 Rothenberg Political Report November 2, 2012 Real Clear Politics November 5, 2012
Polling