Hoekstra Easily Defeats Durant, Will Face Stabenow

By Julie Sobel  //  August 7, 2012 | 10:03 p.m.

Updated at 10:45 p.m.

Former Michigan Rep. Pete Hoesktra easily defeated opponent Clark Durant Tuesday in the primary for the Senate GOP nomination. With 36 percent of precincts reporting, the Associated Press called the race with Hoekstra leading Durant 54 percent to 33 percent. A third candidate, Randy Hekman, lagged with 7 percent of the vote.

He will face Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., in the general election. Public polling shows her comfortably ahead, but the state is looming as a presidential battleground.

National Republican Senatorial Committee chair John Cornyn congratulated Hoesktra on his win.

"This November, Michiganders will have a very clear choice between continuing down the path of more reckless government spending, higher taxes, failed job growth and a record debt, or electing a common-sense, fiscally-responsible and proven leader like Pete Hoekstra who will focus on jobs first and foremost," said Cornyn in a statement.

Hoesktra's primary run wasn't smooth -- during the Super Bowl he aired a controversial ad that critics deemed racially-insensitive -- but no candidate was able to get the traction necessary to seriously challenge him.

The former nine-term congressman, who also ran for governor in 2010, was the only candidate with name recognition when the race began. A number of candidates ran to his right. But support didn't coalesce around Durant, the leading conservative alternative, until late in the game.

Durant ran ads attacking Hoesktra as holding similar positions to Stabenow, including his support for the TARP bailout, while painting himself as an outsider. A super PAC also ran ads on his behalf in recent weeks, and he reeled in some big-name endorsements in the final month, including from the Tea Party Express and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. But it wasn't enough to close the gap with Hoesktra; polls never showed him within striking distance of his opponent. In a statement after the election was called, Durant called for people to unite around Hoestra. "Going forward, I will continue to be a 'Rebel With a Cause,'" said Durant. "This is about fighting the status quo in Washington of record debt and record spending which has pushed this country to the brink of fiscal disaster."

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Reid Wilson, Editor-in-Chief
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