Democrat Chedrick Greene won a special election in Michigan’s 35th Senate District on Tuesday, ensuring his party will maintain its 19-18 majority in the state Senate for the remainder of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s term. Greene, a firefighter and Marine veteran, defeated Republican Jason Tunney, a former prosecutor, and Libertarian Ali Sledz, who finished a distant third, in a district that encompasses Saginaw, Bay City, and Midland.
“I just want you to know who’s had your back for 31 years and you can be sure I’ll still have your backs in Lansing,” Greene told cheering supporters at a watch party.
Tunney conceded the race, saying he “fell short” but vowing to run again in November. The term at stake runs only through the end of the year, so the seat will be on the ballot again this fall.
The contest drew national attention as a bellwether for the midterm elections. The district sits about 100 miles north of Detroit and includes part of Saginaw County, the only Michigan county to back the winning presidential candidate in each of the last five elections. “It’s really this microcosm of the Midwest, frankly,” said U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet, who held the seat before entering Congress. “Given how much it resembles so many other places across the country, we have to look at it and say, this is an indicator of how things are going to go in November.”
The outcome keeps Democrats in control of the state Senate at a critical moment. Whitmer is term-limited, and a tie in the chamber would have complicated the legislative agenda in the months before she leaves office in January. Republicans had criticized Whitmer for waiting nearly 500 days to schedule the special election. The state House remains under Republican control.
Voters interviewed at polling places singled out the economy. John Hall, a 69-year-old independent from Bay City, said he voted for Greene and pointed to the cost of gasoline. “It’s taking a bite out of a lot of people’s budgets right now,” Hall said, adding that filling his tank cost $58, compared with $35 to $40 two months ago.
Some strategists cautioned against reading too much into the result. Democratic groups spent heavily: the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee invested $250,000, and high-profile figures such as former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Elissa Slotkin visited the district. “This is a tough race to win in any environment, but they’ve stacked the deck with the spending. And you layer the overall political environment on top of it, it’s going to be tough,” said Jason Roe, a Republican strategist in Michigan.
Donald Trump carried all three counties that make up the district in the 2024 presidential election, but the portions within the 35th District are more competitive. McDonald Rivet won the seat with 53% of the vote in 2022, and Democrat Kamala Harris edged Trump in the district by 49.7% to 48.9% in 2024, driven by a 17-percentage-point lead in the Saginaw portion. Once an auto-industry hub, the region includes a substantial share of union households and a sizable Black population, surrounded by more conservative rural areas.