When Democrats set their sights on winning control of the U.S. House this year, they expected Debbie Stabenow in Michigan to easily win re-election. But the Lansing Democrat decided to run for the U.S. Senate, giving Republicans the chance to regain the 8th district seat after four years. The vacancy has created one of the most closely contested House races in the country.
Polls show the pair locked in a statistical dead heat.
Neither had a primary opponent, and neither has been able to gain a significant lead. Andy Anuzis, 8th district GOP chairman, said the tight race isn't a surprise given the district is about evenly divided between Republican and Democratic voters and has a good number of ticket-splitters. Tim Kaltenbach, the district's Democratic chairman, said Rogers is a charismatic opponent who will be hard to beat. But he's giving Byrum the edge. Byrum enjoys a geographical advantage in the district, which stretches east from Lansing to the wealthy Oakland County suburbs north of Detroit.