Politics & Government
Elections 2012: Your Guide to Farmington-Farmington Hills Ballots
These national, state-wide and local candidates have already drawn attention in races that affect Farmington and Farmington Hills.
Farmington-Farmington Hills Patch is devoted to bringing you the information you need about 2012 political races that touch our community. Here are five candidates to watch in races locals are already talking about:
Federal
Mitt Romney: The man who hopes to beat President Barack Obama this fall , when he was battling with Sen. Rick Santorum in Michigan's Republican primary. Romney is a native of Oakland County.
Nancy Cassis: The 11th Congressional District write-in candidate and former state senator was recruited by Oakland County Republicans and is scheduled to . This race for a seat that includes the city of Farmington became a "talker" when incumbent turned in petitions that didn't contain enough valid signatures. The only Republican on the Aug. 7 primary ballot is Kerry Bentivolio of Milford.
Find out what's happening in Farmington-Farmington Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Hansen Clarke: The current 13th District congressman is among 14th Congressional candidates in the Aug. 7 Democratic primary. Clarke, who gave an impassioned speech during a breakfast this week, is already on the hot seat as challenger over failing to sign as a sponsor on federal legislation to ban synthetic drugs like K2 and Spice. Also in the race: Congressmen Gary Peters (9th District) Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence and retired 36th District Court magistrate Bob Costello.
State
Vicki Barnett: The 37th State House district remained untouched during redistricting completed after the 2010 Census. faces a challenge for her third and final term from Republican Bruce Lilley, a long-time Farmington resident. He'll be speaking to Farmington Area Republicans Wednesday as well.
Find out what's happening in Farmington-Farmington Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
County
Bill Dwyer: Steadfast in his refusal to comment much on , the Farmington Hills resident won't just be campaigning in Farmington and Farmington Hills this time around. The new district now includes Franklin, Bingham Farms, Beverly Hills and portions of Southfield. Dwyer's challenger is Beverly Hills attorney Todd Stearn, who gained recognition in that area of the district by serving for 10 years on Beverly Hills city council.
Correction: Congressman Hansen Clarke's district was incorrectly reported in the original version of this story.
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