Tuesday was Election Day in the Upper Peninsula, and the battle for the 109th state house seat was front and center. The district, which used to cover only Marquette, Alger Counties, now also covers large chunks of Dickinson and Baraga Counties, thanks to recent 2022 state redistricting.
Current state representative Jenn Hill (D-Marquette) won her party’s primary Tuesday night, defeating Marquette County Road Commissioner Randy Girard, with 80-percent of the vote. Girard was at 15-percent, and Marquette resident Margaret Brumm was at five percent of the vote.
Hill’s re-election platform has the theme of “bringing people together to get things done”.
On the Republican side, former TV-6 meteorologist Karl Bohnak easily won his party’s primary, with roughly 75-percent of the vote. He began his campaign after being fired for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic.
Part of his platform is “more freedom”.
Bohnak defeated retiree Burt Mason of Baraga County, who was involved in several non-profit agencies there. Mason had roughly 15-percent of the vote. Melody Wagner, a former Marquette teacher who has run for state representative in the past, ended up third with about ten percent of the vote.
Tuesday’s primary results set up an intriguing match-up in November.
Hill will have the power of incumbency, as well as the Democratic Party labor union support that will surely throw its support behind her.
Bohnak will have the power of name recognition after decades of reporting the weather on Upper Peninsula television, and he will get support from conservatives who still object to the restrictions that were imposed during the pandemic.
The 109th district has not elected a Republican to the state house since the 1980’s.
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