MI-13: Brenda Jones, Rashida Tlaib and Bill Wild lead race to replace John Conyers
WASHINGTON – With a week to go until the Aug. 7 primary, the race to replace former U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, appears to have come down to three candidates — Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, former state Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Westland Mayor Bill Wild.
An automated poll conducted last week by EPIC-MRA of Lansing for the Free Press showed those three candidates separated by no more than 7 percentage points and accounting for about two-thirds of all those surveyed, making it too close to call at this point. Nineteen percent remained undecided.
Conyers stepped down in December, ending a congressional career dating to 1965, after being accused of mistreating and harassing female staffers over the years. Conyers denied the allegations.
With his seat open, more than a dozen candidates looked at or announced runs — including the congressman’s son, John Conyers III, who did not make the Democratic ballot and has had his request to be listed as an independent candidate denied. In the predominantly Democratic district, which includes parts of Detroit, Downriver and western Wayne County, that party’s primary is almost certain to decide the winner.
The EPIC-MRA poll, which used automated calls to contact 700 active and likely voters or those who have already cast absentee ballots in the district, last Wednesday and Thursday showed Jones leading with 24 percent, followed by Tlaib with 21 percent. Wild trailed those two with 17 percent.
The survey — which has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points — showed state Sen. Coleman A. Young II next with 9 percent; state Sen. Ian Conyers, the former congressman’s grand-nephew, with 6 percent; and former state Rep. Shanelle Jackson with 4 percent.
Asking undecided voters a second time to choose changed the outcome slightly, with Jones moving to 26 percent support, Tlaib at 22 percent and Wild at 20 percent. The others were all in single digits and 11 percent still declined to select a candidate.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/07/30/leading-race-replace-john-conyers/860978002/
