The Latest: Justice Larsen wins 2-year Supreme Court term

DETROIT – The Latest on Election Day 2016 in Michigan (all times local):

12:40 a.m.

Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen has won a partial term on the state’s highest court.

Larsen defeated Wayne County Judge Deborah Thomas and lawyer Kerry Morgan in the election Tuesday. She was appointed to the court in 2015 and now will serve the two years remaining in the term of a justice who resigned.

Larsen was nominated by the Republican Party. She was a University of Michigan law professor when she was appointed by GOP Gov. Rick Snyder. She worked at the U.S. Justice Department earlier in her career and was a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Thomas was nominated by the Democratic Party, although party affiliation isn’t listed in court races. It was her second run for the state Supreme Court.

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12:35 a.m.

Justice David Viviano has won a full eight-year term on the Michigan Supreme Court.

Viviano defeated Wayne County Judge Frank Szymanski and lawyer Doug Dern in the statewide race Tuesday.

Viviano was appointed to Michigan’s highest court in 2013 and won a partial two-year term a year later. He was a Macomb County judge when Gov. Rick Snyder picked him for a vacancy.

Viviano had the blessing of the Republican Party, although party affiliations weren’t listed on the ballot. He was identified as an incumbent justice.

He calls himself a rule-of-law judge, deciding cases based on a strict interpretation of what the Legislature had intended.

Szymanski was nominated by the Democratic Party. Unlike past elections for the court, the party didn’t pour money into the race for TV ads.

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12:25 a.m.

U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg has won a fifth term in Congress, beating Democratic state lawmaker Gretchen Driskell in southern Michigan’s 7th District.

The 65-year-old Republican from Tipton was first was elected to Congress in 2006, but lost in 2008 to Democrat Mark Schauer. He defeated Schauer, who ran for governor two years ago, in 2010 to regain the seat and has not lost since.

Walberg is a former pastor who also served in the Michigan House in the 1980s and ’90s.

The 58-year-old Driskell has served in the Michigan House since 2013 and is the former mayor and city council member in Saline.

Libertarian Ken Doctor also lost in Tuesday’s election.

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12:23 a.m.

GOP incumbent Mike Bishop has defeated Democratic newcomer Suzanna Shkreli for a U.S. House seat that stretches from mid-to-southeastern Michigan.

Bishop beat the 29-year-old Macomb County assistant prosecutor, who replaced TV actress Melissa Gilbert in the race. Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls Wilder on “Little House on the Prairie,” withdrew in May, and Democratic leaders chose Shkreli for the GOP-leaning district candidacy.

The 49-year-old Bishop took over the seat in 2015 from longtime U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers. He previously served in the state House from 1998-2002 and state Senate from 2003-2011.

Libertarian Jeff Wood, the Green Party’s Maria Green and the Natural Law Party’s Jeremy Burgess also ran for the seat.

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12:20 a.m.

Republican political newcomer Jack Bergman has beaten Democrat Lon Johnson for the open U.S. House seat in northern Michigan.

The retired Marine Corps lieutenant general keeps the rural 1st District seat for Republicans. Third-term GOP Rep. Dan Benishek did not seek re-election.

Bergman, who owns a medical imaging equipment business, touted his lack of political experience as the remedy needed in Washington during the race.

Johnson was a former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party. His loss is a blow to Democrats, who wanted to retake a seat they had held for 18 years before Benishek.

The rural district was the most competitive among the state’s 14 congressional seats. It encompasses the entire Upper Peninsula and the northern Lower Peninsula. Both candidates were criticized for not having ties to the area.

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12:15 a.m.

Democrat Dan Kildee of Michigan has won a third U.S. House term, defeating Republican challenger Allen Hardwick.

The 58-year-old Flint Township resident was first elected four years ago in Michigan’s 5th District to succeed his uncle, Dale Kildee, who served in Congress for 36 years.

Dan Kildee serves on the Financial Services Committee. Previously, he co-founded and served as the president of The Center for Community Progress, a national non-profit organization. He also was the longtime Genesee County treasurer.

The 52-year-old Hardwick of Davison also ran against Kildee in 2014. He’s a website designer, computer repair technician and IT professional.

Libertarian Steve Sluka and the Green Party’s Harley Mikkelson also were on the ballot Tuesday.

The east-central Michigan district includes Flint, Saginaw and Bay City.

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12:10 a.m.

Republican David Trott has been re-elected to a second consecutive term in a Detroit-area U.S. House seat.

Trott beat Democratic surgeon Dr. Anil Kumar, Libertarian Jonathan Ray Osment and Independent Kerry Bentivolio on Tuesday for the GOP-leaning 11th District seat.

The 56-year-old Trott is a real estate and foreclosure attorney from Birmingham.

Kumar is chief of surgery at Crittenton Hospital and a partner in The Kumar Surgical Center.

Bentivolio was elected four years ago as the “the accidental Congressman” when Republican Rep. Thad McCotter inexplicably turned in fraudulent voter signatures when seeking a spot on the ballot. Bentivolio failed in a write-in campaign in 2014 after losing the GOP primary that August.

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12 a.m.

Democrat Debbie Dingell has been re-elected to a second term in Michigan’s 12th Congressional District.

She defeated Republican Jeff Jones, Libertarian Tom Bagwell, Green Party candidate Dylan Calewarts and Working Class candidate Gary Walkowicz in Tuesday’s general election.

The 62-year-old Dingell is from Dearborn. She first was elected two years ago in the Democratic-leaning southeastern Michigan district, succeeding her husband, John, who retired as the longest-serving member of Congress.

Previously, Debbie Dingell served on the Wayne State University Board of Governors and was a member of the Democratic National Committee.

The 55-year-old Jones is a church pastor from Taylor.

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11:50 p.m.

Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga will serve a fourth term representing his western Michigan district in Congress.

Huizenga won re-election Tuesday over Democrat Dennis Murphy in the 2nd District, which is the most Republican-leaning of the state’s 14 congressional seats.

Huizenga is a member of the House Financial Services Committee and co-owns a gravel company.

Murphy works as a quality engineer in the automotive manufacturing industry.

The district includes all or parts of seven counties and stretches west from the Grand Rapids area to Lake Michigan and north from Holland to Ludington.

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11:50 p.m.

Republican businessman Paul Mitchell has won a seat in Congress 18 months after helping to defeat a statewide tax proposal to fix Michigan’s roads.

Mitchell defeated Democrat Frank Accavitti Jr. and two other candidates for the open 10th District seat, which represents the state’s Thumb region. Republican U.S. Rep. Candice Miller didn’t seek re-election after 14 years.

It was Mitchell’s second run for Congress. He spent $5 million of his own money during an unsuccessful primary bid in another congressional district in 2014.

Mitchell wants to eliminate President Barack Obama’s health care law and opposes any special path to citizenship for people who are in the U.S. illegally.

Accavitti has been a state lawmaker, a mayor and a county commissioner. He told voters that he would work for more high-speed internet in rural areas.

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11:45 p.m.

Republican John Molenaar of Michigan has won re-election to a second term in the U.S. House.

Moolenaar defeated Democrat Debra Wirth and three other candidates in the heavily Republican 4th District, which crosses the rural midsection of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.

The 55-year-old Midland resident ran on a strongly conservative platform including opposition to abortion, strengthening border security and cutting federal spending. The former Dow Chemical chemist served in the Michigan House and Senate before succeeding former U.S. Rep. Dave Camp in 2015.

Wirth is an attorney and businesswoman from DeWitt who ran unsuccessfully against Camp in 2012 and was a write-in candidate for the Democratic nomination in the August primary.

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11:45 p.m.

Republican U.S. Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan has won a fourth term in Michigan’s 3rd District.

Amash defeated little-known Democrat Douglas Smith in the district, which includes the cities of Grand Rapids and Battle Creek and their suburbs.

The 36-year-old is a self-described “libertarian Republican” who was first elected to Congress with the Tea Party wave in 2010.

A resident of Kent County’s Cascade Township, he is a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, which clashed with House GOP leaders about issues such as defunding Planned Parenthood and fast-track trade authority.

Smith is a sheet metal worker from Belmont who was seeking political office for the first time.

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11:35 p.m.

Republican U.S. Rep. Fred Upton has won a 16th term in Congress.

The 63-year-old Republican from St. Joseph defeated Democrat Paul Clements and Libertarian Lorence Wenke on Tuesday to keep his 6th District seat.

Upton has been in the House since 1987. He is the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has broad oversight of the American economy, including cars, health care and federal agencies. His grandfather was co-founder of Whirlpool.

Clements is a professor at Western Michigan University.

Wenke is a 77-year-old former Kalamazoo County commissioner. He owns greenhouses in Michigan and Georgia.

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11:10 p.m.

Republicans say they have retained their majority in the Michigan House of Representatives.

The GOP has controlled the chamber’s agenda for nearly six years. Republicans currently lead the 110-member House and also control the Senate, which was not up for election this year.

Democrats needed to pick up nine seats in Tuesday’s election to win the majority.

House Republican Campaign Committee Chairman Aric Nesbitt said Tuesday it was a “resounding victory” for the GOP.

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11 p.m.

Professional wrestler Rhyno has lost his longshot bid for a seat in the Michigan Legislature.

Democrat Abdullah Hammoud, a 26-year-old health care consultant, beat Dearborn Republican Terrance Guido Gerin in Tuesday’s election for an open House district. The 41-year-old Gerin, who prefers the name “Rhino,” currently appears on World Wrestling Entertainment’s “Smackdown Live.”

Gerin’s campaign website says he is a “politician by day” and a “professional wrestler by night.” He urged voters in the Democratic-heavy district east of Detroit to “be a Rhino-Democrat.”

Hammoud, the son of Lebanese immigrants, says he will focus on public education, people without health insurance, pollution and economic development.

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10:45 p.m.

U.S. Rep. John Conyers, the longest-serving member of Congress, has earned another term in his 13th District seat.

The 87-year-old Detroit Democrat won his 27th term on Tuesday, defeating Republican Jeff Gorman, Libertarian Tiffany Hayden and Working Class candidate Sam Johnson.

Conyers has served in Congress since 1965 and rarely has been tested in Democratic primaries or general elections over the past five decades. He had represented the 14th District for years and moved over to the 13th District, which covers parts of Detroit and Wayne County, after Republicans redrew boundaries in 2011.

Conyers is a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and is the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

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10:40 p.m.

Preliminary results of an exit poll taken for The Associated Press and television networks show Michigan voters had reservations about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Only about half said they voted for someone they strongly supported. A majority said they were bothered by Clinton’s use of emails while secretary of state and Trump’s treatment of women.

About six in 10 voters described the nation’s economy as “not so good” or poor. About four in 10 said it was more important for the next president to bring about needed change than to have experience or good judgment.

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9:15 p.m.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Sander Levin has rolled to an 18th term in Congress.

The 85-year-old Levin defeated Republican Christopher Morse in the Detroit-area 9th District on Tuesday.

Levin was first elected in 1982 and has collected 60 per cent or more of the vote since 2000. Levin, known as “Sandy,” is the brother of former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin.

The senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, which has influence over tax laws and trade policy, chaired the panel for a brief time in 2010 when Democrats controlled the House.

It was the first campaign for the 43-year-old Morse, who served in the Army and Navy for 18 years.

The 9th District encompasses parts of Macomb and Oakland counties.

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9:15 p.m.

Incumbent Democrat Brenda Lawrence has been elected to a second term in Congress.

The 61-year-old Lawrence of Southfield defeated Republican Dr. Howard Klausner, Libertarian Gregory Creswell and Green Party candidate Marcia Squier in Tuesday’s general election for the 14th District seat.

Lawrence was elected to Congress in 2014. She was Southfield mayor from 2001-2014 and was running mate to Michigan gubernatorial candidate Virg Bernero in 2010.

The 14th District leans Democratic and includes parts of Detroit, the Grosse Pointes, Southfield, Lathrup Village, Oak Park, Farmington Hills, West Bloomfield and Pontiac.

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9 p.m.

All polls have closed across Michigan.

Four counties in the western Upper Peninsula are in the Central time zone and remained open an extra hour.

The state is a battleground for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Donald Trump, who both campaigned in the traditionally “blue” presidential state in the final hours of their punishing 2016 race.

The election also caps two close U.S. House races at opposite ends of the state and a closely watched battle for control of one-half of the GOP-led Legislature.

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8 p.m.

Polls have closed across Michigan, except for voting precincts in the western Upper Peninsula that will remain open another hour.

Four counties in the U.P. are in the Central time zone.

Michigan was a battleground for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Donald Trump, who both campaigned in the traditionally “blue” presidential state in the final hours of their punishing 2016 race.

The election also caps two close U.S. House races at opposite ends of the state and a closely watched battle for control of one-half of the GOP-led Legislature.

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5:50 p.m.

City Clerk Janice Winfrey says some voting machines in Detroit stopped working Tuesday morning and had to be replaced.

The delay caused long lines and waits of an hour or more to vote.

Winfrey says her office received about 50 calls for broken voting machines, but some were repeat calls for the same machines she describes as a decade old.

Northwest of Detroit, a malfunctioning computer and tabulator at a voting precinct in Waterford Township forced elections workers to put about 50 ballots into a bin.

Township Clerk Sue Camilleri says the computer and tabulator were fixed. She says the ballots that were set aside “will not be put through the tabulator until the end of the night.”

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2:50 p.m.

Authorities say an argument between a woman supporting presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and another backing Donald Trump near a southeastern Michigan polling place led a man to shove one of the women and spur a larger fracas.

Washtenaw County sheriff’s spokesman Derrick Jackson says the women started arguing outside Tuesday morning after voting in Ypsilanti. Jackson says a man “interjected himself” and shoved one of the women, who fell but wasn’t injured.

After that, he says, other people “started getting into the fray,” but no other violence was reported.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many people were involved or which candidate the man was supporting.

Sheriff’s deputies broke up the argument and took names, but nobody was arrested. Jackson says a report will be forwarded the prosecutor’s office for review.

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11:45 a.m.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder says he’s encouraged by what appears to be high voter turnout at his polling place on Election Day.

The Ann Arbor News reports (http://bit.ly/2eJg2gi ) Snyder and his wife arrived at their polling location at Community High School in Ann Arbor on Tuesday morning and didn’t have much of a wait. He noted, however, that a relatively large number of voters appeared to have cast ballots before him.

Snyder said: “It’s one of our basic democratic rights and it’s great seeing people exercise that.”

The Republican didn’t reveal his vote in the presidential race and said he interested in making sure the majority in the state House of Representatives stayed in favour of the Republicans.

He said there was a “lack of positive dialogue at the presidential level” in the campaign.

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10:30 a.m.

The early morning voter line was long but the mood was light at DuVall Elementary School in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. A diverse queue chatted, sipped coffee and snacked on sweets they bought from a student bake sale.

Kelly Jabbusch said she arrived about 10 minutes after the polls opened on Tuesday and was voter 67, waiting about 40 minutes to cast her ballot. The 38-year-old math professor at University of Michigan-Dearborn voted for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton because she agrees with her policies.

Thirty-four-year-old Amina Abboushi arrived a little later to join a slightly shorter but still lengthy line. The mortgage company worker says she voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein because Clinton and Republican Donald Trump “are embarrassing.”

Long morning lines have been common at polling places across southeastern Michigan.

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9 a.m.

Many Michigan voters avoided lines at the polls on Election Day by casting absentee ballots.

Helen Kammeraad has known she would vote for Republican Donald Trump since the day he announced his candidacy nearly 17 months ago.

The 62-year-old retiree from Holland, Michigan, returned her absentee ballot two weeks before Election Day. She later attended separate rallies held by Trump and vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence.

For Michigan paramedic Bryan Carter, an independent with Libertarian leanings, his vote for president boiled down to the “lesser of two evils.”

The 27-year-old from Lansing cast an absentee ballot for Democrat Hillary Clinton in person six days before the election, despite not liking her and finding himself in agreement when co-workers criticized her private email server and her handling of the attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

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7:05 a.m.

Polls are opening across Michigan as voters cast ballots in national, state and local contests.

Michigan was a battleground until the very end for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Donald Trump, who both campaigned in the traditionally “blue” presidential state in the final hours of their punishing 2016 race.

Polls are open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to: 8 p.m. local time.

The election also will cap two close U.S. House races at opposite ends of the state and a closely watched battle for control of one-half of the GOP-led Legislature — the outcome of which will influence Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s governing agenda in his last two years in office.

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1:40 a.m.

Donald Trump has a final message to his supporters in the election’s waning hours: “We have to win.”

The GOP nominee tells his final rally crowd in Grand Rapids, Michigan that: “If we don’t win, this will be the single greatest waste of time, energy and money in my life.”

Trump’s final event at a local convention centre was surprisingly staid, with none of the theatrics of an earlier rally in a packed arena in New Hampshire.

As he spoke, dozens of people streamed toward the exit, forming a procession in front of an area where reporters were stationed.

Some said they were trying to get closer to the door. But most said they were leaving because they were tired, wanted to beat traffic or had heard enough.

Trump says now that he’s finished his campaign, his “new adventure” will be “making America great again.”

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1 a.m.

The race for president, 14 U.S. House seats, two Michigan Supreme Court justice posts and control of the 110-member Michigan House are at stake in the election.

The spotlight Tuesday is on the presidential race between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. Both candidates and their surrogates have campaigned for the state’s 16 electoral votes.

Among the most competitive U.S. House contests is the 1st Congressional District in northern Michigan, where Democrats think they can take back the seat that is open due to Rep. Dan Benishek’s retirement. Former Michigan Democratic Party chairman Lon Johnson faces Republican Jack Bergman, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general and airline pilot.

Democrats hope to cut into the Republicans’ 62-45 edge in the statehouse, where there are also three vacancies.

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12:55 a.m.

Donald Trump is channeling Hollywood as he kicks off the final rally of his unconventional presidential campaign.

“Today is our Independence Day,” Trump declares at a rally in Grand, Rapids Michigan in the early hours Tuesday. He says, “Today the American working class is going to strike back.”

Trump had been expected to hold his last rally in New Hampshire — but added one last event to his calendar as his team made an 11th-hour push into traditionally Democratic states.

Trump says he doesn’t need superstars like Jay Z, Beyonce or Lady Gaga to draw crowds like his rival Hillary Clinton. He says, “All we need is great ideas to make America great again.”