Michigan GOP has success in university board elections, but MSU result uncertain

Republicans won at least four of six contested board seats at universities across Michigan on Tuesday, based on election calls made by The Associated Press, but the winner of one of two open seats at Michigan State University remained uncertain Friday morning.

University of Michigan Regent Denise Ilitch is the only Democrat on any of the three university boards whose members are chosen in statewide elections that The AP has declared a winner, based on 99% of the estimated vote count and unofficial results.

One Democratic incumbent, labor leader Mark Gaffney, was ousted from the Wayne State University Board of Governors, The AP said, based on unofficial results, reducing the Democratic majority on that board to 5-3 from 6-2.

Strong party performance at the top of the ticket, which Michigan Republicans enjoyed Tuesday in awarding the state's electoral votes to former President Donald Trump, often has ramifications in down-ballot races.

That appears to have been true Tuesday in elections for the boards of Wayne State, U-M and MSU.

But at MSU, The AP had not declared a winner for one of the two contested board seats in a close contest between the second- and third- place finishers, as of Friday morning.

The state updated the numbers on its website Friday morning to show Democrat Rebecca Bahar-Cook in second place and Republican Julie Maday in third, reversing their orders on the leaderboard, after Allegan County Clerk Bob Genetski acknowledged an apparent data entry error in the vote total for Bahar-Cook that his county sent to the state.

Prior to the update, the state website had shown Maday ahead of Bahar-Cook by more than 14,000 votes, at 6 a.m. Friday. That was at odds with numbers compiled by The AP, which showed Bahar-Cook ahead of Maday.

AP was showing Republican Mike Balow in first place, with 25% of the vote, and declared him a winner Thursday.

The AP showed Bahar-Cook in second place, with 24% of the vote, Maday in third place, also with 24% of the vote but with close to 3,500 fewer votes than Bahar-Cook, and Democrat Thomas Stallworth III in fourth place, with 23% of the vote.

Bahar-Cook's lead over Maday grew to about 6,200 votes later on Friday, after Battle Creek, county and state results were updated to include more than 4,000 votes that had not been included in Calhoun County's initial unofficial count, due to a city programming error.

Maday had already declared victory in a Wednesday news release.

"We are convinced she won," Maday campaign spokesman Randall Thompson said Thursday.

Bahar-Cook, who earlier told supporters on Facebook she might have fallen short, told the Free Press on Thursday the official numbers approved by canvassers will be the correct ones and she "will have to wait and see." But she said she had identified what appeared to be an error in the state totals, with Allegan County results showing she had won 20,363 votes there, which she believed was correct, but the state website showing she received only 2,363 votes in Allegan.

The state receives its vote totals from the 83 counties.

Angela Benander, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Secretary of State's Office, said late Thursday it "looks like a data entry error on the county's part," but state officials were "trying to verify" what happened.

Genetski said Friday the 20,000-plus vote total for Bahar-Cook that appears on the county website was uploaded directly from memory cards and appears accurate, but that the number from Allegan on the state website was keyed in by hand by a county deputy clerk and it appears a zero was missed. That would appear to explain the discrepancy, said Genetski, who added that he is grateful that under Michigan's election system, any errors in the unofficial numbers are detected during the canvassing process that is underway now.

Wayne State University Board of Governors (2 positions)

With an estimated 99% of the vote counted, the AP called the Wayne State races for Republican incumbent Michael Busuito and Republican newcomer Sunny Reddy on Thursday morning. They received 25% and 24% of the vote respectively, while Gaffney and fellow Democrat Rasha Demashkieh fell short, each with 23%, according to unofficial results compiled by the AP.

Busuito, a Royal Oak physician, is active in philanthropy, his medical career and training future physicians.

"I can't thank the voters of Michigan enough for allowing me to serve another eight years at the university I love," Busuito said in a news release.

Reddy, of Bloomfield Hills, is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who earned his master's degree in chemical engineering.

Gaffney, a Detroit Democrat, is a former president of the Michigan AFL-CIO who was first elected to the board in 2016.

Demashkieh, of Fort Gratiot, is a pharmacist who has served on the Michigan Civil Rights Commission.

University of Michigan Board of Regents (2 positions)

With an estimated 99% of the vote counted, the AP declared the U-M Republican newcomer Carl Meyers and Ilitch elected, receiving 26% and 25% support, respectively, while Democrat Shauna Ryder Diggs and Republican Sevag Vartanian fell short, receiving 24% and 23% of the vote respectively, unofficial results compiled by The AP show.

Meyers, of Dearborn, takes the place of Republican Regent Ron Weiser, whose term is ending and who was not renominated by the Michigan Republican Party at its state convention in Flint in August. Meyers is vice president of an investment firm.

Ilitch, of Birmingham, won a third eight-year term on the board. She is an owner of Ilitch Family Companies, which owns Little Caesars Pizza, Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers and other companies.

The 6-2 Democratic majority on the board remains unchanged.

Ryder Diggs is a Grosse Pointe physician who previously served on the board from 2013 to 2021.

Vartanian, of Novi, runs an asset management firm.

Michigan State University Board of Trustees (2 positions)

The winner of one of the two available eight-year terms at MSU remained uncertain Friday.

No incumbents were on the MSU ballot after Trustee Dianne Byrum, a Democrat, opted not to seek a third term and Board Chair Dan Kelly, whose term was ending, wasn’t renominated by the Michigan Republican Party.

Balow, of Plymouth, who The AP declared the winner of one of the two seats on Thursday, works in real estate.

Bahar-Cook, of East Lansing, is CEO of Capitol Fundraising Associates.

Maday is from Novi, where she served as a city councilwoman.

Stallworth, of Detroit, is a former state lawmaker.

Democrats currently have a 7-1 majority on the MSU board.

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or [email protected].

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Winner of 1 Michigan State University trustee seat remains uncertain