SHIFTING PRIMARY FIELD
The line-up of Democrats hoping to survive the August 2024 primary race for a congressional House seat in the 10th District, which takes in Rochester and Rochester Hills, along with the southern portion of Macomb County, continues to change. In early October the former director of Macomb County Health and Community Services, Rhonda Powell, threw her hat in the ring. Powell ran in the 2022 primary for this seat in Congress, coming in at 17 percent, considerably behind former Macomb Circuit Court judge and prosecutor Carl Malinga who won the primary contest but then lost in the general election by a mere 1,600 votes to now incumbent John James (R-Shelby Township). Just as Powell was jumping into the primary line for Democrats, Brian Jaye, a Rochester lawyer and small businessperson announced that he has withdrawn from the Dem primary contest, although the reasons are a bit murky. Jaye had made an unsuccessful run for Congress in 2022 and has also run in the past for the Michigan State Board of Education. His withdrawal was posted on his Facebook page on October 7, along with allegations that the Republican party was circulating false information that Jaye was on a child sex predator list, which he denies. His Facebook posting also announced that he would be teaching in an unnamed school district and only practicing law in the evenings. The latest shift in the line-up leaves Marlinga; Powell; Warren financial advisor Diane Young; Oxford-based gun safety advocate Emily Busch; and state Board of Education member Tiffany Tilley of West Bloomfield. The winner of the primary will face James in November 2024 in a district that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee includes in its list of some 30 House seats they say could flip next year.