Watershed Voice sends out candidate questionnaires for August primary election

This Thursday, July 16, Watershed Voice sent out candidate questionnaires to candidates in the following August primary elections: State Senate District 17, State House District 36, and Three Rivers City Commission 2nd District. 

Candidates in those elections will have exactly one week, until Thursday, July 23 to complete the questionnaires. Once completed, Watershed Voice will publish the responses in the order they are received the week before the August 4 election. 

Watershed Voice sends out and publishes questionnaires to give our readers and the general public more information as to who their candidates are and what they stand for. 

What are the primaries?

The primary elections work as a way for the number of candidates to be cut down before the general election. For partisan races, that means voters will select the candidate they want to represent one party in the general election. For primaries, the State of Michigan requires voters to choose which partisan section to fill out: Democratic or Republican. For nonpartisan elections — such as the Three Rivers City Commission — the primary cuts the candidate list down to two candidates for the general election. 

Here’s how that process will play out in each of the elections Watershed Voice sent out questionnaires to:

State Senate District 17

Right now, candidates will be choosing from three Democratic candidates in this race: Ashleigh Baker, Brett Muchow, and Mike Jones. 

These candidates are registered with the Democratic party and one winner on August 4th will be selected to face Republican incumbent Jonathan Lindsey in the November general election. 

State House District 36

In this race, two Republican challengers — Luke Lori and Max Coon — will go against incumbent Steve Carra. The winner of this race will earn the Republican nomination and go against Democratic candidate Cole Slaski in the November general election. Slaski earned the Democratic nomination by default after facing no opposition in the primary. 

Three Rivers City Commission District 2

This race is slightly different as it is a local government position so the candidates are listed as nonpartisan. That means that the primary serves as an opportunity to cut the candidate list down to two. The candidates in this election are: Steven Haigh (incumbent), Maurice D. Kelly, and Josh Hoeppner. 

Maxwell Knauer is a staff writer for Watershed Voice.