Early election results suggest shake-up for Oakland County Commission
Oakland County's county commission appeared headed for change Tuesday based upon early unofficial election returns.
At 9 p.m., results showed that three incumbent Democrats on the commission – Dr. Ajay V. Raman and Gwen Markham of Novi, and Brendan Johnson of Rochester Hills – appeared headed to defeat at the hands of their Republican challengers.
Johnson was losing to Republican Dale Hetrick, 4,986 to 6,094; Raman was behind Republican Robert Smiley, 5,496 to 7,096; and Markham was losing to Republican Daniel Lawless, 3,866 to 3,985.
Oakland County executive David Coulter, a Democrat, was ahead of Republican challenger Nik Gjonaj, 188,812 to 129,674
Another Democrat, incumbent county prosecutor Karen McDonald, was beating Republican challenger Scott Farida, 194,709, to 131,174.
County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, a Republican, looked to keep his seat ahead of his challenger Amrit Kohli, 188,531 to 141,137.
County Clerk/Register of Deeds Lisa Brown had a nearly 20% lead over Republican challenger Barb Pallotta, 189,965 to 131,837.
Two more Democrats, County Treasurer Robert Wittenberg and Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash, were ahead in races for their respective seats with more than 10-point lead over their Republican challengers, Donna Blake and Steve Johnson.
Should official results confirm losses for the three Democrats on the commission, the party will retain the majority over Republicans, but with a smaller margin.
Troy Democrat Ann Erickson Gault appeared to be holding her seat with a small lead over Republican Douglas K. MacLean, 5,989 to 5,961.
Republican commissioners Mike Spisz, and Michael Gingell, Bob Hoffman, Karen Joliat, Phil Weipert and Christine Long appeared to be cruising to victory as were Democratic commissioners Angela Powell Kristen Nelson, Marcia Gershenson, Williams Miller, Yolanda Smith Charles, Linnie Taylor and Charlie Cavell. Commission's chairman David Woodward was leading in the race to keep his seat.
