Eleven candidates are set to face off in a special election to fill the Michigan House of Representatives seat vacated by Sheldon Neeley after he was elected Flint mayor.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced on Thursday that a special primary election would be held to fill the seat on Jan. 7, 2020, followed by a special general election on March 10, 2020 – the day of Michigan’s presidential primary.
Candidates had until 5 p.m. Tuesday to enter the race.
Two members of the Flint City Council – Monica Galloway, who was elected council president on Nov. 12, and Santino Guerra – are running for the seat as Democrats.
Guerra previously announced that he would run for the seat in November 2020. Neeley would have been term-limited out of the House at the end of his term.
Cynthia Neeley, the wife of Sheldon Neeley, filed to run as a Democrat for her husband’s former seat last week.
Candice Mushatt, who served as a legislative aide to Neeley in the House and, later, as Flint’s public information officer under Karen Weaver, is also running for the seat as a Democrat.
Sean Croudy, Flint’s recreational director, Charis Lee, an army veteran, Claudia Perkins-Milton, a General Motors retiree, and Sherwood Pea are also running as Democrats.
Two other Democratic candidates – Michael Clack, the son of former state Reps. Floyd Clack and Brenda Clack, and Vincent Lang – filed to run just hours before the Tuesday deadline.
Adam Ford is the lone Republican running to fill the seat.
The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of Neeley’s term in the House, which ends Dec. 31, 2020.
To win a full two-year term, they will have to run again in an Aug. 4, 2020 primary election and Nov. 3, 2020 general election.