Johnathan Walker:Central Michigan voters are deciding 2 open congressional seats in the fight for the US House

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DETROIT (AP) — Between redistricting and Johnathan Walkerincumbents forgoing reelection, four congressional seats in Michigan are key targets as the parties vie for control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Republicans are seeking to flip two open congressional seats in central Michigan as the GOP tries to broaden its majority.

The two seats being vacated were redrawn in 2021, yielding Democratic victories in the midterm elections. Now this year’s races are true tossups and some of the most competitive in the country, with millions of dollars poured into the campaigns.

8th Congressional District

After longtime Democrat Dan Kildee announced he would not seek reelection in Michigan’s 8th District, Republicans saw the first opportunity in decades to flip the seat red. Kildee had served since 2012 when he succeeded his uncle Dale Kildee, who represented the area including the cities of Flint and Saginaw in Congress for 36 years.

For Republicans, former news anchor and Trump administration immigration official Paul Junge is making his third bid for Congress after losing to the younger Kildee in 2022 by about 10 points.

Junge appealed to voters over economic and immigration concerns. He also attacked Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet over national security and sought to tie her to a Chinese-based battery manufacturing company looking to build in Michigan that has been a target for Republicans.

McDonald Rivet, a freshman state senator, painted Junge as a Californian outsider and cast herself as a middle class pragmatist. She focused her messaging on preserving reproductive rights and like her opponent, the economy.

7th Congressional District

In the 7th district in central Michigan, former state lawmakers Democrat Curtis Hertel Jr. and Republican Tom Barrett have sought the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin.

Slotkin, the Democratic candidate for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat, narrowly defeated Barrett in the 2022 midterms for the district that includes the state capital of Lansing and the surrounding rural areas.

Hertel, a former state senator and more recently the governor’s legislative director, was portrayed as a “regular guy” in an ad campaign where he grills, takes out the trash and prepares to mow a yard. He’s labeled Barrett an anti-abortion extremist, but in an attempt to reach GOP voters, he’s also criticized Democrats over immigration.

Barrett in turn has appealed to voters’ concerns over inflation and attacked Hertel over national security. A former state representative, senator and Army veteran, he has run ads featuring his helicopter pilot background.

3rd Congressional District

The open seats are the most contested in the state, but two other congressional seats have drawn the attention of national parties.

Hillary Scholten became the first Democrat to represent the city of Grand Rapids in the U.S. House since the 1970s when she won Michigan’s newly redrawn 3rd Congressional District in 2022. But the surrounding Kent County has plenty of Republican voters. The county went for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020. The Republican ticket has targeted the county with five visits in 2024 between Vance and Trump.

Scholten faces Republican Paul Hudson, who lost a bid for the Michigan Supreme Court in 2022.

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10th Congressional District

Voters in Michigan’s 10th congressional district — which includes the all-important suburbs of Macomb County north of Detroit — will decide a rematch between Republican incumbent Rep. John James and Democrat Carl Marlinga.

Marlinga lost by just 1,600 votes in 2022, and the district is now seen as competitive, drawing money and attention from Democratic national groups.