Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) is projected to defeat Republican businessman John James in the Michigan Senate race, an outcome that would protect Democrats from losing one of their most vulnerable Senate seats in the 2020 election cycle.
DecisionDeskHQ projected Peters to be the winner of the Michigan Senate seat around 7:30pm EST, with NBC News joining in on the projection shortly after 8pm EST. Fox News has also projected Peters as the winner.
Data from DecisionDeskHQ shows Peters with 49.61% of the vote, and James with 48.5% of the vote as of 8:10pm EST, with over 95% of the votes counted.
Decision Desk HQ Projects Peters (D) Has Won Election To The Senate From The State Of MI
Race Called At 11-04 07:27 PM EST
All Results: https://t.co/P8otcaDgvj
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) November 5, 2020
James, who lost a Michigan Senate bid in 2018 to Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), showed promise in his most recent attempt to unseat a Democrat-held seat.
According to Cook Political Report, Peters was the second-most vulnerable Democratic senator up for re-election at a time when Republicans were tasked with defending nearly twice as many Senate seats as them (a factor of the GOP’s 2014 Senate victories).
Only one other seat was more likely to flip Republican than Michigan’s — the Alabama Senate seat currently held by Doug Jones. The New York Times called the seat for Jones’ opponent, former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, on election night.
After Tuberville’s victory was projected, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) was projected to hold her Senate seat against Democratic challenger Sarah Gideon, who has since conceded the race. The Maine Senate seat was considered a “toss-up” by Cook Political.