Michigan

In the 2016 general election, Donald Trump won Michigan with 47.5% of the vote, compared with Hillary Clinton’s 47.27%. Trump was the first Republican to win Michigan since 1988. In 2016, both Democratic support and turnout were down in Detroit and its suburbs. While both of Michigan’s US senators are Democrats, its US House representation is more evenly split and includes independent Justin Amash, who left the Republican Party in 2019. Both chambers of the state Legislature are controlled by Republicans, while the governor’s office is held by Democrat Gretchen Whitmer. Democrats are strongest along the “I-75” corridor, the heavily populated stretch of communities in eastern Michigan. They also do well in Ann Arbor and Lansing. Republicans fare better in western Michigan, particularly around Grand Rapids. The Detroit-area counties of Oakland and Macomb are the state’s battlegrounds.