FLIPPIN’ OUT

Kelly Breen

The end of an Oakland County political dynasty of sorts is fast approaching in the 38th District as Republican Rep. Kathy Crawford (Novi, Northville, Lyon Township, S. Lyon, Walled Lake) faces the last 18 months of her third and final term in the Michigan House of Representatives. Crawford, who won her first term in 2014 after her husband Hugh Crawford vacated the seat due to term limits. The seat is considered by some analysts one of the top 15 likely to flip in the 2020 election – and state Democrats are eager to flip the state House after coming oh-so-close in 2018, narrowing the gap by six seats, with Republicans holding a 58 to 52 majority. Novi City Council member Kelly Breen, a Democrat, announced at a June 6 “Take Back Our State” campaign kickoff event that she intends to take the seat. Breen was narrowly defeated by Crawford in the 2018 general election by a single percentage point, or 48 percent to 49 percent, with Libertarian candidate Brian Wright taking 2.4 percent of the vote. “It’s go time,” Breen captioned a photo she tweeted out in May after filing to run for the seat with the tag #FlipTheHouse.