John James wins Michigan's 10th congressional seat, beating Carl Marlinga

Republican businessman John James will represent Michigan's 10th Congressional District after besting former Macomb County judge and prosecutor Carl Marlinga in a tight race for the seat.

The Associated Press called the seat around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Earlier Wednesday afternoon, Marlinga had conceded the race before it was officially called.

Since early Wednesday morning, James had held the slimmest of margins over Marlinga, with a 48.8%-48.3% edge with 99% of the vote tallied according to unofficial results compiled by The Associated Press.

They were separated by 1,601 votes out of more than 326,000 counted so far, according to the AP's unofficial vote count. But Marlinga told the Free Press he had gone through the vote totals and didn't see any grounds at present for requesting a recount.

"I've been doing politics too long," he said. "Recounts are usually just a lot of puffery unless they're linked to something (some allegation) at a specific polling location or something." He said unless such a specific claim of a miscount arises, he wouldn't pursue a recount on his campaign's behalf.

He said he called James and congratulated him. "I've conceded the race," he said.

Speaking to WWJ 950 Newsradio in Detroit on Wednesday morning, James made clear his belief he had won, saying "It feels great, there have been a lot of folks that have been working hard for a long time (to win)."

The contest was one of the marquee matchups in Michigan this year, with Republicans counting on James' perceived strengths as a candidate to help add to their margins nationally as they sought to regain control of the U.S. House in the coming Congress.

Both candidates had run for seats in Washington two times before — James, losing two closer-than-expected outcomes in U.S. Senate campaigns in 2018 and 2020; Marlinga, failing in a bid for the Senate in 1994 and another for the U.S. House in 2002.

More:Michigan November election results

They were running in the newly created 10th Congressional District, which includes much of southern Macomb County and a sliver of eastern Oakland County. Taken together, the district has been slightly more Democratic leaning over the last decade but has been trending more Republican — former President Donald Trump won within its boundaries twice.

As such, James was seen having the edge by political handicappers.

Certainly, James, a former Army helicopter pilot, has raised his political profile enormously over the last two election cycles, even though he lost both of his Senate campaigns within the confines of this district — the last against Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Gary Peters by less than one percentage point. He also has been a prolific fundraiser, enjoys widespread institutional Republican support and has honed his political chops.

But Marlinga, a Sterling Heights resident who represents a different generation and has long been well-known in Macomb County, has tried to capitalize on the fact that James still lives outside the district in Farmington Hills. While James has said his military and business background will help him bring jobs to the area and fight inflation, Marlinga has argued that James would restrict abortion in all cases other than those where a pregnant person's life is in danger. Marlinga has also tried to run as a moderate on spending and other issues, while James has said pointedly that other Democrats who have claimed similar philosophies in the past have gone on to vote with their party once in Congress.

Throughout the campaign, James, who is Black -- and would become the state's only Black U.S. House member if he wins -- has stuck largely to the GOP script nationwide, decrying Democratic policies he says have led to high inflation, increased immigration at the southern border and higher rates of crime.

Meanwhile, Marlinga, who is white, has said he too is concerned about mounting debt and spending and would take steps to address it while also protecting a pregnant person's right to decide with a medical professional whether to have an abortion and put limits on the ownership of dangerous firearms. He also has said that while he likes James personally — and respects him for his service to the country — that he worries his loyalty to Trump, who has endorsed James, might lead him to vote to decertify a lawful election if Trump asked him to do so.

Marlinga said that given the final margin in the race and the fact that he was greatly outspent by James, his chances of winning could have been improved greatly if the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) had committed more funds to the race, as it did in other competitive races in Michigan.

"I had a winnable race, I raised a million dollars and I put a goodly amount on TV," he said. "A little bit of help from the DCCC would have put me over the top."

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: John James wins Michigan's 10th congressional seat