Lautner Out After Three Decades, McCalley Beats Allen, Other Outcomes From Leelanau County’s August Primary Election

The chessboard is set for the November general election. Based on unofficial results from Tuesday’s primary, here’s a quick rundown of what the November ballot will look like for voters in Leelanau County, including races for all seven seats on the county’s Board of Commissioners, key congressional and state races, and township leadership positions. The Leelanau Ticker also takes a look at how a slew of local ballot proposals fared, including several millage renewals for libraries and fire/ambulance services.

Leelanau County Commissioner Races

District 1: Republican Tim McCalley; Democrat Rick Robbins
Tim McCalley, a former air traffic controller and supervisor at Cherry Capital Airport, defeated former Leelanau County Administrator Deb Allen to secure the Republican slot on the November ballot for the District 1 commissioner seat. McCalley will face Democrat Rick Robbins, who ran unopposed on the left side of the ticket. Robbins formerly held this seat as a Republican, but lost it in November 2022 to Democrat Jamie Kramer, who resigned from the county commission earlier this summer.

District 2: Republican Mark Walter; Democrat Scott Perry
Mark Walter, who previously served as District 2’s commissioner from 2002 to 2008, looks to have beaten challenger Forrest Welch by a 2-1 margin in the Republican race. In the November general election, Walter will face Democrat Scott Perry, who ran unopposed. The winner of that race will succeed Republican incumbent James O’Rourke, who opted not to seek re-election this year.

District 3: Republican William Bunek; Democrat Lois Bahle
William Bunek, a former 14-year member of the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners, will face Lois Bahle, who toppled him out of the District 3 seat in a 2022 recall election. Voters recalled Bunek after he recommended zeroing out the early childhood services millage that Leelanau County voters had approved in 2019. Bahle ran for this seat in November 2022, but lost to Republican Doug Rexroat, who is the current incumbent. Rexroat had initially filed papers to seek re-election, but withdrew from the race, leaving both Bunek and Bahle unopposed in their respective primaries.

District 4: Republican Jim White; Democrat Ty Wessell
A pair of uncontested races – Jim White on the Republican side, Ty Wessell on the Democrat side – meant no drama in District 4 this primary season. Come November, White will try to upset Wessell, who is both the District 4 incumbent and the current chair of the Board of Commissioners.

District 5: Republican Al Campbell; Democrat Kama Ross
Incumbent Kama Ross, a conservationist and retired forester for the Leelanau, Benzie, and Grand Traverse Conservation Districts, will have a rematch against her November 2022 rival for this seat, Republican Alan Campbell. Ross narrowly won that 2022 election, edging Campbell out 1,173 votes to 1,135. Campbell was a newspaper reporter, publisher, and owner of the Leelanau Enterprise for over 40 years. Another Republican, Harry Steffens, filed to run for the District 5 seat back in January, but withdrew his candidacy before the filing deadline, leaving both Campbell and Ross unopposed in their primary races.

District 6: Republican Mark Roberts; Democrat Gwenne Allgaier
District 6 also saw a pair of uncontested races in Tuesday’s primary, too, leaving a clear road to the November election for both Democrat incumbent Gwenne Allgaier and her Republican challenger Mark Roberts.

District 7: Republican Steve Yoder; Democrat Tim Dowd
The District 7 Board of Commissioners seat was arguably the race to watch in Leelanau County this primary season, with up-and-coming Republican Steve Yoder challenging long-time incumbent Melinda Lautner for the seat she’s held since 1995. (A third Republican candidate, Amede DeCruydt, effectively resigned the race ahead of time, telling the Leelanau Ticker last week that he was not campaigning for the seat and planned on supporting Lautner.) Despite DeCruydt’s support for Lautner, Yoder prevailed in Tuesday’s primary, earning 401 votes to Lautner’s 241 and putting an end to Lautner’s near-30-year run on the county board. (DeCruydt tallied just 14 votes.) Yoder, who serves on the Solon Township planning commission, will face Democrat Tim Dowd in the November election.

National and State Races

United States Senator: Republican Mike Rogers, Democrat Elissa Slotkin
One of Michigan’s two seats in the United States Senate is up for grabs this November, as Democrat incumbent Debbie Stabenow prepares to step down after 24 years. Rogers and Slotkin both won their primaries decisively to advance to that November showdown, with the Associated Press calling both races by around 9pm on Tuesday night. Slotkin scored a decisive victory against challenger Hill Harper, while Rogers beat out a field that included three other GOP candidates: Justin Amash, Sherry O’Donnell, and Sandy Pensler.

U.S. Congress, 1st District
Incumbent Jack Bergman, who has held this seat in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2017, easily beat challenger Josh Saul for the Republican slot on the November ballot. On the left, Callie Barr won a narrower victory against Bob Lorinser, who Bergman beat to win re-election in November 2022.

Michigan House of Representatives, 103rd District
Incumbent Betsy Coffia ran unopposed on the Democrat side of the ballot to advance to the general election in November. She’ll go head-to-head with Republican Lisa Trombley, who topped a pair of primary challengers – Katie Kniss and Tripp Garcia – to keep her electoral hopes alive.

County Races

Most major Leelanau County positions will remain in the hands of incumbents. Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Hubbell, Sheriff Mike Borkovich, County Clerk Michelle Crocker, and Treasurer John A. Gallagher – all Republicans – saw no opposition in Tuesday’s primary. In addition, no Democrats sought any of those offices this election cycle, which means all four individuals are likely to win additional terms come November. Register of Deeds Jennifer Grant will also keep her seat, having won her primary against Republican challenger Renee Wyler on Tuesday.

One key elected position in the county government will soon change hands, though. Steve Christensen, the county’s current drain commissioner, did not seek re-election this year, leaving the role up for grabs. The race in November will be between Republican Timothy O’Non and Democrat Faith Hoekstra, neither of whom had opposition in Tuesday’s primary.

Millages and Ballot Proposals

It was a big day for millage renewals and ballot proposals in Leelanau County. Voters in Leland Township, Bingham Township, and Suttons Bay Township supported millage renewals for their respective public libraries, while Cleveland Township, Centerville Township, Kasson Township, and Solon Township all voted in favor of fire and/or ambulance millage proposals. Cleveland Township voters also supported a road maintenance millage request.

County-wide, voters threw their support behind renewals of Leelanau’s early childhood services, senior citizen services, and road maintenance millages. That spirit of generosity reached beyond county lines, too: Both Traverse City Area Public Schools and Traverse Area District Library had ballot measures up for debate this primary season, and both proposals passed by comfortable margins – including by the parts of the Leelanau County electorate that got to weigh in on them.

Township Supervisor Races

Many township supervisors in Leelanau County will keep their seats after primary election day. Incumbents Marian Werner (Bingham), Ronald Schaub (Centerville), Tim Stein (Cleveland), Jeff Shaw (Elmwood), Tom Laureto (Glen Arbor), and Douglas Periard (Suttons Bay) all saw no opposition on Tuesday and will have no opposition in November, effectively guaranteeing their re-election.

Elsewhere, Kasson Township Supervisor Greg Julian appeared to score a razor-thin victory against challenger Ryan Noonan (148 votes to 141) in yesterday’s Republican primary; Julian also won’t have a Democrat challenger in November.

At least one township is getting a new leader, though: In Solon Township, incumbent James Lautner was defeated in the Republican primary by Christopher Comeaux. There is no Democrat running for that position, which gives Comeaux a straight path to victory in November.

A few other township supervisor spots remain up for grabs in November. Those include Leland, where Democrat incumbent Susan Och will face off against Republican Clint Mitchell; Leelanau Township, where one-time state senate candidate Barbara Conley – a Democrat – will challenge Republican incumbent Michael McMillan; and Empire, where Republican incumbent Carl Noonan will battle Democrat David Hendricks.