Detroit - Although Attorney General Jennifer Granholm isn’t the first woman to be a gubernatorial hopeful, the 43-year-old now has the best chance of any female candidate to run the state.
Early results and exit polls showed Granholm leading her two Democratic competitors in Tuesday’s primary. With 86 percent of precincts reporting at 3:34 a.m., the attorney general held 48 percent of the vote, while U.S. Rep. David Bonior trailed with 28 percent and former Gov. James Blanchard garnered 24 percent of Democratic voters.
Those results set the stage for a Nov. 5 showdown between Granholm and Republican Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus, who trounced Battle Creek state Sen. John “Joe” Schwarz in the GOP primary.
“It is time for a change in Michigan,” Granholm told supporters gathered at downtown Detroit’s Renaissance Center. “It is time for a new generation of leaders.”
Granholm is vying to take over the governorship from John Engler, who cannot run again because of term limits. The attorney general lambasted the Republican administration Tuesday night and promised recovery from financial woes left for the next governor.
The next governor stands to inherit a budget deficit of nearly $1 billion.
“The Engler-Posthumus administration turned their backs on those who needed them the most,” she said. “That is not how I will govern.”
But to beat Posthumus, Granholm and her party will have to recover from an often heated primary battle between three of the state’s top Democrats. If the party isn’t able to recover from its self-inflicted wounds, it could be vulnerable to Posthumus’ GOP camp, said Bill Ballenger, editor and publisher of the Lansing-based newsletter Inside Michigan Politics.
“The Democrats have some licking of wounds to do and smoothing over,” Ballenger said.
And party leaders don’t have a lot of time to start the healing. Granholm will need to pick a running mate by the Democratic primary in three weeks. She took the lead in bringing the party together Tuesday.
“I wish very much to thank my opponents,” she said. “This race has been a hard race, and believe me, if anybody knows how smart and how tough and how dedicated and how committed Jim Blanchard and David Bonior are, it’s me.”
Bonior conceded the race just before 10:30 p.m. He congratulated Granholm and said he will stand by the Democratic Party.
“We made a difference, and we will continue to make a difference,” he said.
Blanchard told WXYZ-TV late Tuesday that he wouldn’t concede, in part because of a delay in counting absentee ballots in Detroit.
“I think this is a tough challenge, don’t get me wrong. But we have no way of knowing how this is going to come out,” he said.
Other prominent Democratic Party members rallied behind Granholm on Tuesday. Former Attorney General Frank Kelley, Granholm’s predecessor and one her most vocal supporters, came to support the Harvard-educated lawyer.
“She made an excellent attorney general and she will make a great women governor for the state of Michigan,” Kelley said. “She has tremendous qualifications and she is a dedicated public servant.”
Even 1998 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Geoffrey Fieger was at the Renaissance Center to support Granholm. The trial lawyer made famous for representing Jack Kevorkian had been rumored to be at odds with Granholm because she did not show him strong support in 1998.
Rumors had even spread that Fieger would run as an independent candidate for governor to spoil Granholm’s chances to become governor.
But Tuesday night, he called Granholm “his candidate.”
“I’ve listened to her positions and she and I agree on most issues,” Fieger said. “I would be remiss in not supporting her.”
But the party wasn’t just for lawyers and former candidates. People from all over the state came to display their support for Granholm - in more ways than one.
Detroit resident Terrie Hylton, 46, wore a red, white and blue hat adorned with an American flag and donkey mask to endorse the Democratic Party and the only female gubernatorial candidate.
Hilton said Granholm’s many great qualities include her empathy, intelligence and “she is a women.”
“She knows she isn’t the first person to run for governor or the first person to be attorney general,” Hylton said. “She listens to people and then combines their expertise with a lot of her own new ideas.”
But it may have been Granholm’s gender that put her over the top of the other Democratic contenders.
“The bottom line is that the women’s vote did it for Granholm,” said Ed Sarpolus, vice president of polling firm EPIC/MRA. “While she was trailing in some areas, she picked up extra votes in others,” Sarpolus said. “West Michigan really came to her aid.”
Staff writers Drew Harmon, Jeremy W. Steele and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Katie Byrne can be reached at byrnecat@msu.edu.
