Voters in suburban Detroit picked nominees in a highly competitive House race on Tuesday, with Republicans choosing businessman John James and Democrats picking Carl Marlinga, a retired judge, to face off for Michigan’s 10th Congressional District.
James, a businessman and Army veteran who served in the Iraq War, was the Michigan GOP’s Senate nominee in 2018 and 2020 but came up short both times. In 2020, he lost to Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) by less than 100,000 votes, winning 48.2% of the vote to Peters’s 49.9%. But after being recruited into the 10th District race by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), James, whom the GOP considers a top-tier candidate, received former President Donald Trump’s endorsement and essentially cleared the Republican primary field.
Marlinga, a 75-year-old attorney, served as a judge on the Macomb County Probate Court until his recent retirement. Before becoming a judge, Marlinga was Macomb County’s elected prosecuting attorney for 20 years.
While election forecasters rate the seat as competitive, most analysts have given James a clear edge in the race. Politico, the Cook Political Report, and Sabato’s Crystal Ball say the race is “lean Republican,” while RealClearPolitics and Fox News rate the contest “likely Republican.”
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The 10th District encompasses parts of Macomb and Oakland counties in the northern suburbs of Detroit. After the seat was redrawn during the decennial redistricting process to be more favorable to Republicans, Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI), who currently represents the 9th District, opted to challenge Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in a neighboring Democratic-leaning district.
