{"id":423913,"date":"2026-08-04T22:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T22:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/423913\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T22:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T22:28:12","slug":"michigan-voters-cite-economy-need-for-change-in-primary-election-the-oakland-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/423913\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan voters cite economy, need for change in primary election \u2013 The Oakland Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was originally published<\/a> by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Sign up for a free newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By Janelle D. James and Bridge Staff, Bridge Michigan<\/a><\/p>\n

Michigan voters cast ballots in competitive US Senate, governor and other primaries
\nMany voters cited the economy, government and leadership as top priorities
\nSome Republicans raised concerns about election security and voter fraud while younger Democratic voters backed progressive candidates<\/p>\n

Michigan voters headed to the polls on Tuesday with concerns about voter fraud, government leadership, the cost of living, war in the Middle East and the future of politics on their minds.<\/p>\n

As of Tuesday morning, more than 1.3 million voters had already cast their absentee ballots or voted early, according to the state<\/a>, but a steady stream of voters cast ballots in person on Election Day.Voters on Tuesday decided major party nominees for governor, the US Senate, the US House and the Legislature and voted on several local ballot initiatives.<\/p>\n

For 66-year-old Warren resident David Yankovich, his biggest issue in the election is \u201cstopping communist socialism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yankovich voted for John James for governor and Mike Rogers for US Senate in the Republican primary Friday morning at the Dorothy M. Busch Library.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s disgusting,\u201d said Yankovich. \u201cEverywhere it has ever been implemented, it has always failed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Traverse City, two voters from opposite ends of the political spectrum told Bridge Michigan they were motivated by the same thing: a desire for change.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Melissa Hoeppner (Jonathan Oosting\/Bridge Michigan)<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically to get out the powers that be, and hopefully change the future for the better,\u201d said Melissa Hoeppner, a 54-year-old teacher who already voted absentee in the Democratic primary but was passing out literature near a polling place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hopeful for my son and any children \u2014 my students, as well \u2014 in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Melichar, a 76-year-old retiree who voted in the Republican primary, said he, too, wanted to overturn the status quo.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got Democrats and Republicans \u2014 it\u2019s stupid, they all vote as one person,\u201d he said. \u201cIt makes no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melichar told Bridge he wasn\u2019t motivated by any particular issue, but instead turned out to vote for a specific candidate: Perry Johnson, for governor.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Steve Melichar (Jonathan Oosting\/Bridge Michigan)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not a politician,\u201d Melichar told Bridge. \u201cHe\u2019s a businessman, and, like it or not, government\u2019s a business.\u201d<\/p>\n

About two hours north in Carp Lake, a small community outside of Mackinaw City, Joanna Reed shared a similar sentiment.<\/p>\n

Reed emerged from her polling place feeling like she\u2019d done her duty, but with little confidence in politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey get into office to get rich \u2014 they aren\u2019t there to serve us,\u201d Reed said. \u201cOur elderly and our vets are being ignored, and it\u2019s wrong. It\u2019s not the way it used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reed described herself as an independent and voted in the Republican primary. She voted for Johnson for governor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel he listens more than the other candidates,\u201d Reed said. \u201cI want people elected who are going to work for me. A lot of them don\u2019t do that nowadays.\u201d<\/p>\n

While several Republican and independent voters said they were driven by frustration with government, Democratic voters Bridge spoke with were more focused on everyday economic challenges and investments in their communities.<\/p>\n

Duchess Sanders, a 33-year-old plastic parts plant worker who normally votes Democratic, declined to say which candidates she voted for but noted they were candidates she feels \u201ccan make the community better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey really need to work more on our community, focus on our people, what we need because we are here living it every day,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cWe need better gas prices, better food prices, better and more jobs. We need community stuff for our children. They have got to put more stuff into the schools. We need all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Kalamazoo, two voters with different priorities told Bridge they were motivated by a mix of candidate preferences and concerns about the direction of our government.<\/p>\n

Brandon Keyser, a 41-year-old IT worker who said he normally votes Democratic, cast his ballot for Abdul El-Sayed in the Democratic US Senate primary because he supports the candidate\u2019s progressive policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also believe in what he says when he talks about getting foreign lobbies out of Congress,\u201d Keyser said.<\/p>\n

For governor, Keyser backed Chris Swanson, saying he believed Swanson was the better choice and adding that he has \u201cnot been a fan of (Jocelyn) Benson while she\u2019s secretary of state.\u201d He also voted for Diop Harris in the local US House race, saying Harris\u2019 policies were \u201cmore America first than anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keyser said his biggest priority was maintaining \u201cchecks and balances\u201d in government.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to vote for someone who\u2019s going to rubber-stamp more policies and let them do whatever they want,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While much of voters\u2019 attention has focused on the candidates, election administration and voter confidence also remained central issues in Tuesday\u2019s primary.<\/p>\n

Outside Detroit\u2019s Department of Elections, Lorenzo Sewell, pastor of 180 Church, and members of his congregation discouraged people from voting absentee, claiming, \u201cthey\u2019re setting up to cheat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those concerns resonated with some members of Sewell\u2019s congregation, likeSymone Wilkes, who chose to vote in person because of doubts about absentee voting. The 35-year-old community outreach specialist claims an absentee ballot was cast on her behalf in the 2020 election, but she only ever votes in person.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m voting for John James because he\u2019s going after voter fraud,\u201d Wilkes said. \u201cI was a victim of voter fraud in 2020. I\u2019m passionate about it because our city does not have any money because of voter fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AChrista Shilling, 54, casts her ballot in Michigan\u2019s primary election at the Bloomfield Township Public Library in Bloomfield Township, Michigan on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026. (Ella Miller\/Bridge Michigan)<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has made combating voter fraud a priority after repeatedly claiming the 2020 presidential election was stolen, though courts, election officials and audits found no evidence of widespread fraud that altered the results.<\/p>\n

The US Department of Justice announced Tuesday morning <\/a>that it will be monitoring polls in Detroit, Hamtramck, Lansing and East Lansing \u201cto ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur primary monitoring efforts continue today as we seek to ensure free and fair elections nationwide,\u201d said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department\u2019s Civil Rights Division in a statement.<\/a> \u201cThe Department of Justice is devoting extensive resources to ensure uniform and nondiscriminatory monitoring. We appreciate the cooperation of these jurisdictions in promoting trust and transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two teams of observers were spotted taking notes at a polling location in Lansing.<\/p>\n

While some voters said election security motivated their decisions, younger voters Bridge interviewed were largely focused on issues ranging from the war in Gaza to campaign financing and the direction of the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

At Bethel A.M.E. Church in Detroit, young voters told Bridge they voted for El-Sayed for the Democratic nomination for US Senate.<\/p>\n

Brian Will, 29, a librarian, previously volunteered for El-Sayed during his gubernatorial race in 2018 and said he appreciates El-Sayed\u2019s \u201cmoral clarity on the Israel-Palestine issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said candidates who align with US Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, and US Rep. Rashida Tlaib, of Michigan, will \u201cmore aggressively protect the people who are the most vulnerable\u201d and provide an \u201calternative vision to the way things are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some politicians who recognize that the establishment is legitimately not meeting people\u2019s needs,\u201d Will said.<\/p>\n

\"BridgeBridge Michigan<\/p>\n

Victoria Price, 22, of Detroit, a Wayne State University student studying marketing, who also works at Chipotle, told Bridge she also voted for El-Sayed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to make sure that he actually won or at least got as many votes as possible,\u201d Price said.<\/p>\n

What drew Price to El-Sayed?<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the fact that he was independently funded: He wasn\u2019t taking any money from people that don\u2019t actually care about our values or things that we need in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

She voted for Benson for the Democratic nominee for governor, saying she did not like Swanson.<\/p>\n

Noah Lapp, 32, recently moved to Mount Pleasant after living in northern Iraq and working as an education coordinator for the past nine years. The educator was brought back to the United States not by choice, but was evacuated from the area after the war in Iran began to escalate earlier this year.<\/p>\n

In 2020, Lapp was teaching in Iraq when missile strikes targeted the region during the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n

For Michigan\u2019s US Senate race, he voted for El-Sayed, who has heavily campaigned against military aid to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very easy when it\u2019s on the news, you can kind of ignore it,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen it\u2019s your neighbors getting their houses bombed, you start to change the way you feel about the way we\u2019re dealing with that whole region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lapp worked for Jesuit Worldwide Learning<\/a>, a global nonprofit organization that teaches higher education in displaced communities.<\/p>\n

Other Democratic voters said they were less motivated by ideology than by experience and trusted leadership, pointing to endorsements and candidates\u2019 governing records as key factors in their decisions.<\/p>\n

Ron Lemke, a 79-year-old retiree in Alpena, said he struggled with who to select in the Democratic primary for the US Senate, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer\u2019s endorsement of Haley Stevens put her over the top. He voted for Benson to receive the Democratic nomination for governor.<\/p>\n

He said he considers himself an independent voter and the biggest motivating factor sending him to the polls on Tuesday was \u201creally just my dissatisfaction with what\u2019s going on in government.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m tired of the lies and half-truths,\u201d Lemke said shortly after casting his ballot at First United Methodist Church. \u201cThere\u2019s just a lot of hypocrisy and people remaining silent when they should speak up.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Taylor, a 28-year-old program director at a nonprofit cultural center called Fire, also said leadership influences his choices. He voted for Stevens in the Democratic US Senate primary, citing Whitmer\u2019s endorsement as the reason why.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really trust our current governor\u2019s leadership,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cEspecially among all the chaos in politics, she\u2019s a voice that we can listen to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Sign up for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[30688,204,60839,181,1268,795,16663,155996,100,143,904,145,144,13,1267],"class_list":["post-423913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-bloomfield-twp","tag-election","tag-isabella-county","tag-latest-headlines","tag-macomb-county","tag-michigan","tag-michigan-news","tag-mt-pleasant","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-county","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-politics","tag-warren"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}