Some Michigan counties see dramatic political shift after voting red for decades

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WXYZ) — As outcomes have are available, some historically Republican counties that had been key to a Tudor Dixon victory, like Oakland and Kent, remained blue.

For the final 20 years, Kent County, residence of Grand Rapids, had all the time voted for the Republican gubernatorial candidate. That’s till Gov. Gretchen Whitmer turned it blue in 2018 and once more in 2022.

The query now’s whether or not this dramatic shift is a everlasting one.

Dixon’s held her watch social gathering in downtown Grand Rapids Tuesday, however that doesn’t imply voters within the metropolis sided together with her marketing campaign.

Lissa Engleman of Grand Rapids is one among 162,000 individuals in Kent County who solid their poll for Whitme. She says the outcomes gave her aid.

As an almost lifelong Kent County resident, she feels political colours are shifting within the county.

“It should be gradual. It’s actually not an enormous flip to the opposite facet, however slowly, it’s shifting in that route,” Engleman stated.

A county that when all the time backed the Republican candidate and voted for President Donald Trump in 2016 has sided with the Democrat ever since. Political science specialists are taking word.

“It is sort of a shift within the heart of political gravity in Michigan,” stated Jonathan Hanson with the College of Michigan Gerald R. Ford Faculty of Public Coverage.

Hanson says each Kent and Oakland counties have seen dramatic shifts, serving to to elect Democrats to main places of work.

“These bigger counties that at the moment are beginning to produce some fairly important vote margins for Democratic candidates,” Hanson stated.

Nevertheless, voters on the road, even those that supported Whitmer, are hesitant to say this variation is everlasting.

“Kent County will not be going to be blue; it’s going to be the candidates. Individuals are getting out and voting for the candidates and the problems,” Grand Rapids voter Joe Dubay stated.