LANSING– In Tuesday’s Michigan Democratic primary, Michigan Democrats voted in record setting numbers. Turnout exploded in communities throughout the state by over 30% over 2016 as voters showed they were eager to send a message to Donald Trump and reject his broken promises. Here’s what they’re saying:
Turnout in Tuesday’s presidential primary in Michigan surged as Democratic voters in polling places across the battleground state said they were motivated by a desire to take on President Donald Trump.
But more than 1.5 million voters participated in the state’s Democratic primary, in which former Vice President Joe Biden beat Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders by 16.5 percentage points. In a Wednesday morning statement, the Michigan Democratic Party labeled the turnout a “record” and “historic.”
“Last night, Michigan saw a turnout explosion, setting a record for votes cast in a Michigan Democratic primary and increasing turnout by over 28.8% over 2016,” Lavora Barnes, chairwoman of the Michigan Democratic Party, said in a statement. She added that Democratic voters showed they’re ready to hold Trump accountable in November.
In Michigan, Democratic turnout shattered records on Tuesday, with nearly 1.6 million voters casting ballots in the primary — a nearly 33 percent increase over 2016 when just shy of 1.2 million votes were recorded.
For Democrats more broadly, the high turnout in Michigan was a promising development at a time when they are looking to recapture parts of the Midwest that they lost to President Trump in 2016.
Lavora Barnes, the chairwoman of the Michigan Democratic Party, labeled the surge in her state as a “turnout explosion” ignited by widespread opposition to Trump.
“From his attacks on health care and access to clean water to his failure to grow manufacturing jobs in our state, Donald Trump has broken promise after promise to Michigan and yesterday, Democratic voters showed they’re ready to hold him accountable for that fact,” Barnes said in a statement.
Michigan Democrats are hoping the record turnout in the state’s presidential primary portends well for their efforts to defeat President Donald Trump in November.
Nearly 1.6 million people cast ballots on the Democratic side Tuesday. That was almost 380,000 more than four years ago, a 31% increase.
State Democratic Party Chairwoman Lavora Barnes on Wednesday called it a “turnout explosion” and said it showed that Democratic voters want to hold Trump “accountable” for “broken promise after promise” after he flipped Michigan to his corner — the first GOP nominee to have done that in 28 years.
“With the statewide, grassroots organization we’ve built, I know we’re ready to turn every corner of Michigan blue this November,” she said.
