Chedrick Greene wins Michigan state seat

Michigan’s 35th Senate District special election was a state-legislature race, but the stakes were bigger than one seat. This district covers parts of Saginaw, Bay, and Midland counties, and the chamber was already hanging on a one-seat Democratic margin. That meant Tuesday’s result could either preserve a working majority or force the Senate into a 19-19 split. What changed is simple — Democrat Chedrick Greene won, beating Republican Jason Tunney and ending a vacancy that had lasted since January 2025. (ballotpedia.org) ### Who won, exactly? Chedrick Greene won the special election for Michigan Senate District 35 on May 5. He defeated Jason Tunney, the Republican nominee, and Libertarian Ali Sledz. Greene will serve the remainder of former Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet’s term, which runs through January 2027. (ballotpedia.org)me vacant on January 3, 2025, when Kristen McDonald Rivet resigned after winning election to Congress in Michigan’s 8th District. So voters in the district had gone more than a year without direct representation in the state Senate. That long delay turned what is usually a low-profile special election into a much more loaded political test. (ballotpedia.org) ### Why did one state Senate race matter so much? Because the Michigan Senate was already at 19 Democrats to 18 Republicans before the election. If Greene lost, the chamber would have moved to a 19-19 tie. In that scenario, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, a Democrat, would have been positioned to cast tie-breaking votes, but Democrats would sti(ballotpedia.org) clean instead of improvised. (ballotpedia.org) ### What kind of district is this? It is a genuine battleground. The district stretches across the Tri-Cities region — including parts of Saginaw, Bay, and Midland counties — which gives it a mix of blue-collar Democratic strength, swing suburbs, and more conservative territory. That is why both parties treated it as more than a local race. I(ballotpedia.org) in November. (freep.com) ### How did Greene pull it off? Greene came in with a profile that fit the district pretty well — a Saginaw fire captain, Marine veteran, and former district aide to McDonald Rivet. Early reporting on election night showed him running up large margins in Saginaw and Bay counties, which offset Tunney’s strengt(freep.com)es by enough. (ballotpedia.org) ### Why is Tunney’s concession important? Because it signaled the race was effectively over even before every last vote update had fully settled. Tunney acknowledged the loss Tuesday night, which matters in a close, high-attention election like this one. It turned the story from “still counting” into “control of the chamber is staying put.” (wlns.com)al-election/)) ### Does this change anything immediately? Yes — but in a limited way. Greene’s win restores representation for the district and lets Senate Democrats keep operating with an outright majority. The catch is that this does not suddenly erase Michigan’s broader political volatility. It just means Democrats avoided a self-inflicted procedural headache in Lansing and bought themselves stability heading into the fall. (ballotpedia.org) ### Bottom line This was one of those statehouse races that looks small until you see what was attached to it. Greene’s win did not flip Michigan. But it did preserve Democratic control of the Senate, end a long vacancy, and give both parties a fresh read on a real battleground district. (ballotpedia.org)