MI-HD103: In Traverse City, Republicans face steep odds in bid to reclaim state House seat

Traverse City — A race to the finish is in full swing in a Traverse City-area state House district believed to be one of several key outstate seats that could decide the majority. But Republicans face an uphill climb against the winds of a political realignment and discomfort with former President Donald Trump.

Democratic state Rep. Betsy Coffia is defending her seat against retired businesswoman Lisa Trombley in the 103rd House District, which includes Leelanau County and parts of Benzie and Grand Traverse counties.

The seat is one of several targeted by Democrats and Republicans alike in the parties’ bid for control of the Michigan House of Representatives. Democrats currently hold a slim 56-54 majority in the House in part thanks to Coffia, who flipped her seat from red to blue in 2022.

Voters in the Traverse City area have increasingly moved toward Democrats in recent years, part of a realignment among the political parties in which college-educated, affluent voters have scooted to the left, said Adrian Hemond, CEO of Grassroots Midwest. But even before that realignment — which was aided by retirees from Chicago and Detroit — the area's voting base tended toward a more moderate Republican brand, not Donald Trump's populist movement, Hemond said.



https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/10/29/in-traverse-city-gop-faces-steep-odds-in-bid-to-reclaim-state-house-seat/75839355007/