Michigan Republicans may hope to deliver the state to the GOP presidential nominee in 2016, after sweeping nearly all of Tuesday’s statewide races.
Republicans won races for governor, attorney general, secretary of state, along with numerous congressional races. Democrats held on to the U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday’s ballot.
That might leave Republicans with the feeling Michigan may be ready to slide into the GOP column in the 2016 presidential race.
But Bill Ballenger of Inside Michigan Politics thinks that might be unrealistic.
“I think there will be talk about Michigan, but it will be a third-tier kind of state for the Republicans,” says Ballenger. “Remember, Republicans can win the presidency without Michigan. Democrats cannot win the presidency without Michigan.”
The last time a Republican nominee won the presidential election was in 1988, when Vice President George H.W. Bush defeated Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis.
