Senate race in Michigan a statistical dead heat: Survey 

The race for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat is starting the year in a statistical dead heat, polling shows.  

A survey from The Detroit News and WDIV-TV found no clear winner in different hypothetical match-ups between Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), her party’s front-runner, and three top Republican candidates for the seat.  

Against former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), Slotkin scored 38 percent of likely Michigan voters, and Rogers took 37 percent, with one-quarter undecided. 

Facing former Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), both candidates had 36 percent support, with another 28 percent of respondents undecided.

And in a head-to-head with former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, Slotkin trails by 2 points, 38 percent to 38 percent — a difference within the poll’s margin of error. Another 27 percent were undecided.

“All three are essentially a toss-up,” pollster Richard Czuba said in The Detroit News’s release.

Candidates are vying for the upper-chamber slot in a closely watched race after Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) announced last year that she wouldn’t run for reelection. 

Slotkin, a third-term House lawmaker, is leading the Democratic primary field for the seat, with recent polling showing her up 38 points over her closest competitor in the party.  

She’s considered the favorite to get the Democratic nod, but others in the running include actor Hill Harper, former state Rep. Leslie Love and businessman Nasser Beydoun. 

The survey was conducted Jan. 2-6 among 600 likely Michigan voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.