U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, re-elected with 58 percent of voter support, says one of her first priorities when she returns to Congress is to get a farm bill through the House. The Senate OK’d legislation earlier this year. (Robin Buckson / The Detroit News)
The race between U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow and challenger Pete Hoekstra is over, with the incumbent Democrat heading back to Washington to grapple with partisan bickering and the Republican pondering a retirement from politics.
Stabenow, who won handily over Hoekstra in Tuesday's general election in a race seen as a surefire victory for her, will return for her third term to a highly partisan Congress. The Democrats widened their control of the Senate and the GOP maintained its grip on the House of Representatives.
Stabenow wasn't talking to reporters after her win, but immediately following her victory she said although Hoekstra "set a negative tone all the way through," the race was about getting her message out that she is helping Michigan move forward.
"Now it's just back to work," said Stabenow, D-Lansing, who cruised past Hoekstra 58 percent to 38 percent.
One of her first priorities is to get the farm bill through the House.
The Senate passed legislation earlier this year.
The farm bill, which sets the nation's agricultural policy and provides food stamps and other aid, comes up for renewal every five years. It is a piece of legislation she helped sponsor as head of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
"I'm very hopeful going back next week that we will be able to get the attention of the leadership in the House to get the farm bill done because we're running out of time," she said. "As of the beginning of January, we have serious consequences that will start. Milk prices going up and other things."
Stabenow said at least in the Democratic-controlled Senate, "We're going to see a willingness to work together. I saw it on the farm bill. And I think there is the desire on the part of a number of people to work together. I'm hopeful that will be in the House. The House has just been a tougher place to get people to work together."
The senator said people are tiring of the partisan nature of politics and want results.
Hoekstra said "you never know" about his re-entry into Michigan politics but admits it's unlikely. He felt he had the "right game plan and message" but it wasn't the GOP's night.
"I think my inclination would be right now, I'd be very surprised to see my name on a ballot again in the future but you don't close the door to it," he said. "But it's highly unlikely that that would occur."
Hoekstra said he lost for myriad reasons, but "I'm not reliving the race and spending a lot of time trying to analyze it."
"We ran the race we wanted to run," he said. "Obviously we would have loved to have not had a primary. We would have loved to have had a united party going into the general election. We would love to have had more resources. There's all kinds of things that you would loved to have had that could have maybe made the race a little bit more effective."
Hoekstra said he's contemplating rejoining the Dickstein Shapiro, a Washington law and lobbying firm.
"I took a leave of absence and expect over the next few days I'll talk with them and we'll see exactly where they're at and where I'm at."
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