Macomb County results: Hackel wins 4th term as executive; GOP keeps commission majority
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Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel won a fourth four-year term in office as the county's top elected official while the county Board of Commissioners will keep its Republican majority, according to unofficial election results Wednesday.
Hackel, 60, a Democrat from Macomb Township, won with 61.5% of the vote against Republican Nicholyn Brandenburg, a former county commissioner who is in her mid-70s, who received 38.5% of the vote with all of the county's 343 precincts reporting. Hackel was the former county sheriff, starting at the sheriff's office in 1981 as a dispatcher.
In November 2010, he was elected the county's first executive after voters in Michigan's third most populous county decided to have an executive form of government with a downsized Board of Commissioners.
More:Gretchen Whitmer wins a second term as Michigan governor, defeating Tudor Dixon
More:Find all 2022 Michigan election results here
No other countywide offices were up for grabs in Tuesday's general election in Macomb County, the home of the so-called Reagan Democrats and one of the counties closely watched in presidential elections.
Democrats held every countywide-elected seat prior to the 2016 election, when the county voted for former President Donald Trump and three new GOP countywide officials. Two of those GOP officeholders remain in office; the third was removed from office in 2018 when a judge determined she lied about her residency on paperwork she filed to run for the job.
In 2020, the Republican Party tightened its grip on Macomb County when it retained or took over four of five countywide seats up at that time — prosecutor, clerk/register of deeds, treasurer and public works commissioner. It also flipped two seats held by incumbent Democrats on the 13-member county Board of Commissioners, giving Republicans a majority (seven Republicans, six Democrats) for the first time ever — a majority that is slowly growing.
Board of Commissioners stays majority GOP
The Board of Commissioner seats were redistricted, but all 10 of the incumbent commissioners running have won re-election to a two-year seat.
The board will stay majority Republican, picking up one more GOP member, according to the unofficial results.
One seat will shift from Democrat to Republican — the new 7th District seat in Clinton, Macomb and Shelby townships, in which only former commissioner James Perna, a Republican, was on the ballot. No Democrats ran against him, but a Democrat currently holds a similar seat representing Clinton Township.
Other commissioner races
Here are results in other watched county commission races:
Republican Sylvia Grot, wife of Shelby Township Clerk Stan Grot, beat Democrat Ken Reid for the 3rd District seat representing Shelby Township and Utica.
Republican Commissioner Donald VanSyckel, who beat Democrat incumbent Robert Mijac for a seat representing part of Sterling Heights two years ago, won re-election against Mijac for the 5th District seat in Tuesday's election.
Democrat Sarah Ann Lucido, an Eastpointe councilperson, won the 13th District seat over GOP opponent Randell Shafer of St. Clair Shores, bringing a new face to the board. The seat will represent parts of Warren and St. Clair Shores as well as Eastpointe.
Incumbents won
Republican incumbents who won re-election to a seat include: Don Brown, board chairman and longtime commissioner from Washington Township representing northern Macomb communities, in the 1st District; Phil Kraft of Chesterfield Township in the 2nd District; Joe Sabatini representing Macomb Township in the 4th District; Joseph Romano of Sterling Heights in the 6th District, and Barbara Zinner of Harrison Township in the 9th District.
Democrat incumbents who won re-election include Antoinette Wallace of Mount Clemens in the 8th District; Harold Haugh of Roseville in the 10th District; Mai Xiong of Warren in the 11th District, and Michelle Nard of Warren in the 12th District.
Appointed circuit judge wins
Circuit Judge Teri Lynn Dennings, who was appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to fill a partial term that expires Jan. 2, won over opponent Steve Fox, an assistant county prosecutor, with 66% of the vote. The winner will serve the remainder of the term, which expires Jan. 1, 2025.
Voters favor veterans millage renewal
A countywide veterans millage netted easy renewal, winning 80% of the vote, according to unofficial results.
The four-year renewal for 2023 through 2026 re-ups the current 0.069 mills to help fund financial aid and services for veterans and support the administration of the county's department of veteran affairs and veteran affairs commission. The millage was expected to raise more than $2.4 million in the first calendar year, according to the ballot language.
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Macomb County results: Hackel wins 4th term as executive
