Unknown Detroiter upends Michigan state senator

[oberliner]

A little-known candidate with a questionable past who spent no money on her campaign shocked state Sen. David Knezek on Tuesday, upending the Dearborn Heights Democrat in a primary that was not expected to be competitive.

Betty Jean Alexander of Detroit topped Knezek by nine percentage points in the 5th District state Senate primary, according to unofficial results from the state and Wayne County.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/08/08/unknown-upends-michigan-senator-knezek/937688002/

Anyone have any theories about why this happened?

[LanternWaste]

1. "fair enough" nt

[oberliner]

2. Seems fair - just surprising

Wondering if anyone has any additional insights into the significance of this (if any). The how and the why and the what it might mean.

[LonePirate]

3. Democratic women are turning out en masse to vote for other women in Democratic primaries.

The article mentions some targeted phone banking by Alexander with that desired effect.

[oberliner]

4. That's definitely one takeaway

I also think possibly the incumbent maybe took the race for granted and didn't do much campaigning (a la Crowley in NY). But that's just a guess.

Edit to add: His twitter account, though, does suggest that he did do some campaigning.

[pennylane100]

5. I have not idea who she is, however,

I hope she proves all the doubters wrong. It would be could good for Michigan. Surely she can be no worse than the monsters that unleashed the disaster in Flint. They all belong in jail.

[oberliner]

6. Good point

Maybe folks are so fed up with what happened in Flint that there is a general "kick the bums out" sort of vibe happening there.

[Kaleva]

7. A much higher then normal turnout by an energized base.

In another upset, State Rep. Patrick Green was defeated by Lori Stone, a Warren Democrat and teacher.

[oberliner]

11. I'd be curious to learn more about that race you mention

Was it a similarly unknown person that won without raising money?

[Kaleva]

14. It ought not be surprizing that a black woman defeats a white male in a predominatly black district.

Sen. David Knezek came out ahead in a 6 way race back in 2014. This time he had one opponent.

[oberliner]

16. It's not a predominantly black district

Dearborn Heights, which is in the district, is at least 80 percent white.

Edit to add:

I found this website:

https://statisticalatlas.com/state-upper-legislative-district/Michigan/District-5/Race-and-Ethnicity

It shows the district as 52 percent Black, 42 percent White - so, majority Black, but not quite predominantly.

[Kaleva]

33. My error. "Predominately" and "heavily" are inaccurate descriptions.

Thanks for correcting me.

But I do not find it unusual a black woman who apparently ran an effective, no frills, ground campaign defeated a white guy in a district that is majority black in a year where the base is highly energized and who turned out in record numbers this election.

[oberliner]

35. No problem

And your point is taken.

It just seems odd that this person was able to run such an effective campaign without any local reporters or journalists even knowing who she is. I'd be curious to learn more about her ground campaign.

[LisaM]

26. I think we can look back to the 6-way race in 2014.

He didn't get a mandate in the primary election. Now, I don't know much about him and the job he did (sounds like he did fine), but clearly he performed differently in a two-person race, when women candidates, at least in the primary, have done well. I think a lot of women were also pumped to go to the polls and vote for Gretchen Whitmer, and she might have had coattails for other women candidates.

How that will play out in the general, I don't know. I'm not particularly thrilled with the trend of knocking out good-performing sitting representatives in the primary, but in this case, I'm not even sure the challenger expected to win.

[Kaleva]

34. I don't know much about him but he seems to be a good Dem.

Circumstances this year may have done him in given that he won his seat in a 6 way race back in 2014 and like you said, didn't have a mandate.

[underthematrix]

8. The results sound very suspicious

Link to tweet

[oberliner]

10. There were so many voting issues on Tuesday in several different places

Does not bode well for the midterms and beyond.

[Kaleva]

13. A middle aged white male loses in a heavily black district sounds suspicious?

Sen. David Knezek eeked out a victory in a 6 way race back in 2014.

[underthematrix]

17. Yes it does based on all the issues at Detroit polling places. I think that needs further

inquiry. I'm African American and I support white DEM candidates. I will always chose a white DEM candidate over a AfAm Republican because it's not about their race, it's about their hateful harmful mean spirited policies.

[brush]

22. Wasn't it a primary? An AA Dem defeated another Dem.

She will run in the general election against a repug.

[oberliner]

25. Assuming she does run in the general election

[oberliner]

19. It's not a "heavily black district" (52 percent Black, 42 percent White)

Among just adults of voting age, it looks to be closer to even.

[Me.]

15. But Her Voters Wouldn't Have Been Able To Cast Their Ballots Either

so what's the beef aside from her winning

[oberliner]

20. Here's an interesting Facebook post

Sherry Gay-Dagnogo
21 hrs ·
Let’s deal with race in Detroit and Michigan! A number of people asked me why I wasn’t jumping to run for Senate against David Knezek and I shared because he does an amazing job serving our constituents and I’m not wedded to politics, or stepping on others, but solutions! To be perfectly honest, I’m PISSED! I’m pissed at LaMar Lemmons for his games in this election and the race against Brian Banks for Senate. AND I’m pissed with the Mayor’s Omarosa for trying to deliver flowers to Knezek’s opponent for her victory! This man served our district well! Yes, white, AND a champion for justice and what is right! Our state is SICK! We have too many people that want to simply be elected, or to seize power without understanding what is at stake! My heart laments for the state of politics! My heart laments for who will really stand for what is right! I’m willing to work with anyone and shared that with @MayorMikeDuggan today at the @MichiganDems Unity Breakfast. BUT I won’t conceal my disgust with the games, the inadequacies of our elections process, and those with their fake endorsements, which help put us on the road to nowhere! I pray to God that we can get beyond politics as usual because we have a rough road ahead to truly advance #Justice4All! #FreeAgent #NotHappy

Note: The author is an African-American woman (and Democratic State Rep)

[joshcryer]

9. Woman wave.

It's no surprise that a lot of men lost their primary races. People bemoan this as "identity politics" (Greenwald in particular seems perturbed by it). But it is finally happening.

[oberliner]

12. That does seem to be part of it, definitely

But I'm wondering, as someone noted above, if the voting issues that have been reported are related to some of the more surprising results.

[joshcryer]

18. Lori Stone also won.

It's very likely women going in to the voter booth and simply saying, you know what, I'll vote for the woman. Is that bad? Possibly. Betty Jean Alexander has a sordid history and it could hurt her, and she almost certainly didn't expect to win (she spent not a dime on the race). But she's playing off her struggles with bankruptcy as her being a regular person (whether that will work remains to be seen, but people do bounce checks, good people, desperate to pay bills etc).

[oberliner]

21. Just saying "I'll vote for the woman" without knowing anything at all about the woman?

That seems bad, in my opinion.

I am not saying that is what happened here, though. It's possible but perhaps there is more to this story.

Don't know how the Lori Stone victory is similar/different to this one. But I'll check it out.

[joshcryer]

23. I'm not disagreeing.

But if more women start to see that women will band together to elect women, it should compel actually more qualified people to run.

Lori Stone beat out Patrick Green for state House: https://www.macombdaily.com/news/peter-lucido-tops-ken-goike-for-senate-incumbent-rep-patrick/article_e6429418-9a96-11e8-954f-471f21f94037.html

I think it's good in the vein that a lot of Republicans will just vote for anyone with an R beside their name, including known criminals. So why not have loyalty within women groups for women candidates?

[oberliner]

24. Makes sense

What happened here still seems odd to me, but I take your larger point.

[NCTraveler]

27. Pretty interesting.

Are the articles I’m reading say she was recruited by LaMar Lennons? Guy has some solid Detroit political connections.

[oberliner]

28. Lamar Lemmons

He also is the person who appears to be speaking on her behalf at this point.

[NCTraveler]

32. I'm not that surprised by the polling issues.

Detroit had significant issues in 2016.

I don’t see something like this happening because of one thing(gender). She might not have raised money but some type of effort was put forward and the guy who recruited her is not new to campaigning.

[riversedge]

29. ...Alexander did not have campaign signs or a website, and little information is available about her

unbelievable. yet, it happened. Her luck --or this telephone network thing better work for her come Nov. --



..............She’ll face Republican nominee DeShawn Wilkins in the Nov. 6 general election.

............Alexander did not have campaign signs or a website, and little information is available about her online. She filed a waiver with the state indicating she did not plan to raise or spend more than $1,000 on the campaign.

“She did not spend a dime,” said former Detroit School Board President Lamar Lemmons, who recruited Alexander to run because of his own frustration with Knezek on education policy.

Instead, Alexander campaigned though a “grassroots” telephone network by engaging other African-American women, Lemmons said.

Alexander was not available for an interview but is expected to hold a press conference later this week.

The 53-year-old is a single mother with two children who works in an administrative job, Lemmons said. She grew up with Lemmons’ wife, Georgia Lemmons, who considers her a sister.

“She’s reflective of the women of the city of Detroit,” Lemmons said, noting the district is predominately African-American. “She’s a busy working mother trying to take care of her kids.”

[oberliner]

31. She just deleted her Facebook page

A reporter posted a link to it on twitter earlier today and now it's been taken down.

[Tiggeroshii]

30. woah....

This is one of those cases where they really did lose abgreat Democrat.

[oberliner]

36. Would love to hear from the winner

Get a sense of what her ground game was - how she was able to pull off the upset.