Paul Junge won the Republican primary in Michigan's 8th Congressional District Tuesday evening. According to unofficial results from the Associated Press, Junge secured 73.1% of the vote after 35% of ballots were tabulated.
Junge defeated Mary Draves, a retired Dow executive, and small business owner Anthony Hudson. He will meet State Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City) in the general election this November. As of early Wednesday morning, McDonald Rivet was garnering over 56% of the vote on the Democratic ticket with 40% of votes counted and declared the winner by the Associated Press early Wednesday morning.
This is Junge's third run for Congress. In 2022, Junge lost the 8th Congressional District general election to U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint) 53% to 42%. And in 2020, he lost the former 8th Congressional District to U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) 50% to 47%.
The 8th Congressional District includes Bay, Saginaw, Genesee Counties, most of Midland County and some of Tuscola County.
Junge served in the Trump administration at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and worked as criminal prosecutor and a TV news anchor at Fox 47.
Michigan Public Radio's Rick Pluta earlier reported that Michigan’s 8th Congressional district is a tossup for the upcoming November election.
