Schauer declares victory over Walberg

BATTLE CREEK -- Democrat Mark Schauer declared a narrow victory this morning over Republican Rep. Tim Walberg in Michigan's 7th Congressional District -- hours after fellow Democrat Gary Peters defeated longtime Republican Rep. Joe Knollenberg in Oakland County.

"It's been a long night and I wanted to make sure you were able to get some sleep tonight and went to bed with some certainty on how this is going to turn out," Schauer told his supporters at a hotel in Battle Creek.

"Bottom line: Tim Walberg can't catch us," Schauer said as the crowd erupted into cheers. "... We did it!"

But Schauer spokesman Zach Pohl said Walberg had not conceded he'd lost the seat that he won just two years ago, when he ousted Rep. Joe Schwarz in the Republican primary. Walberg's campaign didn't return a call for comment.

The Schauer campaign said that with 96 percent of precincts reporting, Schauer had 137,527 votes to Walberg's 129,657 votes. The unofficial Associated Press tally showed 324 of 356 precincts -- 91 percent -- had Schauer with 145,388 votes (48 percent) to Walberg's 141,023 (47 percent).

In the 9th District, Knollenberg, R-Bloomfield Hills, was soundly beaten by Peters, a former state senator and lottery commissioner.

Neither result was a huge surprise, because Democrats had targeted both districts with money and resources, and the electorate in both had been trending away from the GOP. They were among the Republican congressional districts targeted nationwide.

If final numbers confirm Schauer's proclamation, Michigan's U.S. House delegation will swing from nine Republicans and six Democrats to eight Democrats and seven Republicans.

The last time an incumbent U.S. House member from Michigan was defeated in a general election was in 1996, when Debbie Stabenow -- now Michigan's junior U.S. senator -- ousted freshman Republican Dick Chrysler in the Lansing-area congressional seat.

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