The Associated Press called the Republican Party race for the Michigan House of Representatives’ 104th District seat for incumbent John Roth, with an 86.4% to 13.6% lead against challenger Owen Suhy.
If elected in the general election in November, Roth, 61, will be going into his third term in the state House. He said his focus will be on legislation to protect against fertility fraud, ensure financial transparency in severance pay and meet new Supreme Court guidance by reassessing the sex offender registry.
“We ran on transparency with the government,” Roth said. “So the severance pay is still there, but also skilled trades, we’re still working on that.”
Republican runner-up Owen Suhy, 20, said he ran because he sees a need for a new, young face.
“I have an associates degree in accounting from NMC, and I do not have political experience,” Suhy said. “This is an important part of my campaign, as I feel too much political experience is not beneficial to the community.
“The mission for these politicians can quickly shift from providing real representation to making career moves.”
But Roth said that being in office means meeting the challenges that arise from your district, which are not always the ones you campaign on.
“As you get into office, you don’t know what’s going to come at you,” Roth said. “And so we had to adjust and deal with the issues that have come from our actual 104 district that have been brought to our attention that we need to work on.”
Roth said his campaign will ramp up in the coming months.
“I consider this fall a whole different game,” he said. “I’ve got potentially three different opponents in the general in November … so we’ll have to work just a little bit harder and we’re ready to do so.
“I’m just looking forward to continuing on and want to get work done for the folks back home.”
