Michigan Democrat Gary Peters, the lone Senate candidate willing to appear alongside President Obama in the final days before the 2014 midterm elections, was victorious Tuesday.
The Associated Press called Peters the winner over Republican Terri Lynn Land as soon as the polls closed at 9 p.m.
Unlike every other Democrat in a remotely competitive Senate race, Peters welcomed Obama to his home state on the eve of Election Day.
Michigan was the unique state receptive to Obama’s message ahead of what is widely viewed as a referendum of his policies. Obama, with Peters by his side, touted his administration’s bailout of the auto industry, a central message of the 2012 campaign.
“When the chips were down and our most iconic industry was on the line, [Peters] said, ‘We shouldn’t walk away,’” Obama said. “If the auto industry went down, communities across this state and Midwest would have gone down, too. [Democrats] placed their bet on American workers, making American products. And thanks to the grit and ingenuity and pride of American workers, that bet that they made paid off in a big way.”
Republicans appeared to abandon Land, Michigan’s former secretary of state, in the final weeks of the campaign, as multiple outside groups refrained from reserving TV ads on her behalf during the campaign’s final sales pitch to voters.
Peters and Land never held a formal debate, with both campaigns blaming the other for the impasse. But Peters, the overwhelming favorite, seemed to benefit from one less chance to make a major blunder in front of a big audience.
