2014 Michigan gubernatorial election

2014 Michigan gubernatorial election

← 2010 November 4, 2014 2018 →
Turnout41.6% Decrease 1.3 [1]
 
Nominee Rick Snyder Mark Schauer
Party Republican Democratic
Running mate Brian Calley Lisa Brown
Popular vote 1,605,034 1,476,904
Percentage 50.92% 46.86%

Snyder:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Schauer:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Tie:      

Governor before election

Rick Snyder
Republican

Elected Governor

Rick Snyder
Republican

The 2014 Michigan gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014, to elect the governor of Michigan, concurrently with the election of Michigan's Class II U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

Incumbent Republican governor Rick Snyder ran for re-election to a second term in office.[2] Primary elections took place on August 5, 2014, in which Snyder and former U.S. representative Mark Schauer were unopposed in the Republican and Democratic primaries, respectively.[3]

Snyder was considered vulnerable in his bid for a second term, as reflected in his low approval ratings.[4][5][6][7] The consensus among The Cook Political Report,[8] Governing,[9] The Rothenberg Political Report,[10] and Sabato's Crystal Ball[11] was that the contest was a "tossup". Snyder was saddled with a negative approval rating, while his Democratic opponent, former U.S. representative Mark Schauer, suffered from a lack of name recognition.[12][13] Despite having a more centrist voting record in the House of Representatives,[14] Schauer ran as more of a populist who put education, unions and taxes as his top priorities.[15]

Despite concerns about his approval rating hurting his chances at victory, Snyder was re-elected with 50.9% of the vote. As of 2024, this was the last time a Republican won the governorship of Michigan. This is also the last time the Republican candidate won the counties of Kalamazoo, Oakland, Clinton, Macomb, Kent, Leelanau, and Isabella, and the last time the Democratic candidate won the counties of Alger, Baraga, and Manistee. As of 2024, this is the last time that the winner of the Michigan gubernatorial election won a majority of Michigan's counties. This was the first election since 1990 that the winner was of a different party than the concurrent Senate election.

  1. ^ "General Election Voter Registration/Turnout Statistics". Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference reelection was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "2014 Official Michigan Primary Candidate Listing". Miboecfr.nictusa.com. July 31, 2014. Retrieved August 4, 2014.
  4. ^ "Handicapping the 2013–2014 Governors Races: The Tossups". Governing. July 18, 2013. Archived from the original on August 5, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  5. ^ "Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder raises $5M in 2013 for re-election bid". Daily Tribune. January 28, 2014. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  6. ^ "Which Governors Are Most Vulnerable in 2014?". Five Thirty Eight. April 8, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  7. ^ Woods, Ashley (November 8, 2013). "Michigan Governor Poll Shows Close Race Between Rick Snyder, Mark Schauer". The Huffington Post. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  8. ^ "Ratings". Archived from the original on March 5, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  9. ^ Jacobson, Louis (July 18, 2013). "Handicapping the 2013–2014 Governors Races: The Tossups". Governing.com. Archived from the original on August 5, 2013. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  10. ^ "Ratings". Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  11. ^ "Ratings". Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  12. ^ Oosting, Jonathan (December 10, 2013). "Poll: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, Democrat Mark Schauer in close race ahead of 2014". MLive Media Group. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  13. ^ Dickerson, Brian (August 28, 2014). "Brian Dickerson: Can Schauer avoid the Tomb of the Unknown Front-Runner?". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  14. ^ "Rep. Mark Schauer Former Representative for Michigan's 7th District".
  15. ^ "Old-style populism lives on in Michigan race". October 28, 2014.