Through the primary election on August 7, on every Tuesday and Thursday on the MLC Blog we will be highlighting races for which the primary is the key race due to the voter base.  Candidate’s website and professional information is listed when available.

District Overview

The 11^th Congressional District is in Southeast Michigan and includes portions of Wayne and Oakland Counties. The district has a 55% Republican base.

Commentary

After two terms in office, Congressman Dave Trott announced he wouldn’t run again for office. Since that announcement, the field of candidates on both sides of the aisle has grown quite large. That list includes a former Congressman, several state legislators, including the former House Democratic Leader, plus local government leaders. This district had a fair amount of controversy in 2012 when the incumbent was taken off the ballot due to errors in collecting signatures to get onto the ballot. By default, former Congressman Kerry Bentivolio won the Republican primary and went on to win the general election and serve one term in office.

Democratic Candidates:

• Tim Greimel – State Representative, former House Democratic Leader, former Rochester School Board member, former county commissioner, employment and civil rights attorney
• Suneel Gupta – Former Vice President of Product Development at Groupon, co-creator of Rise, a healthcare company, Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, attorney
• Dan Haberman – Small business owner, attorney
• Fayrouz Saad – Former legislative staffer, field organizer for the Kerry Campaign, worked at the Department of Homeland Security under the Obama administration, Director of Detroit’s Office of Immigrant Affairs
• Nancy Skinner – Radio and television commentator
• Haley Stevens – former Chief of Staff on the Auto Task Force at the U.S. Department of Treasury, led a STEM education program

Republican Candidates:

• Kerry Bentivolio – former Congressman, U.S. Army veteran, former teacher
• Kristine Bonds – Co-founder of Detroit Digital Advertising
• Lena Epstein – Co-owner of Vesco Oil Corporation, co-chair of the Donald Trump Michigan Presidential Campaign in 2016
• Klint Kesto – State Representative, former criminal prosecutor
• Mike Kowall – State Senator, former state Representative and township supervisor
• Rocky Raczkowski – U.S. Army veteran, former state Representative and Majority Leader, attorney

Libertarian Candidate:

• Leonard Schwarts

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