2026 General Election results for the Manchester area
by Sara Swanson
Yesterday the Manchester area went to the polls to vote in national, state-level, and local elections and the results are in.
The Manchester Community Schools board of education election this time around was of historic proportions. In recent years we’ve had uncontested elections or 5 candidates running for 4 seats. This year we had 10 candidates step forward to run for 4 seats, split across two separate races.
The two incumbents in the race, Sandra Wiitala and Christine Deacons will be retaining their seats. Joining them on the school board will be James Tobias who got the most votes in the 4-year term seat race, with Wiitala coming in second and Deacons coming in third, defeating Michelle Champagne and Christopher Caron.
Logan Caszatt dominated the 2-year term race receiving 45% of the vote, defeating Chelsea Kapuniai, Heather Ramsey, and Celia Creger, and will be joining the other three on the board.
In all 5 Manchester precincts, Caszatt won the 2-year term race, while Tobias, Wiitala, and Deacons were the top three placers in the 4-year term race in all precincts except Sharon Township where Tobias, Wiitala, and Walsh received the most votes.
We only had one local millage on the ballot for all voters in any of the precincts and that was the Manchester Township fire millage. It passed 71% yes to 28% no.
Manchester precincts voted along the usual party lines in this election. Bridgewater, Freedom, Manchester, and Sharon Townships all leaned Republican while the City of Manchester leaned Democrat.
One interesting note to this is that in Freedom Township, Republican candidates were favored with 5 to 10 point margins in most races except in the US Representative and State Senator races which came down to a fraction of a percent. In the US Rep race, Republican Heather Smiley beat Democrat Debbie Dingell 442 votes to 440 votes, and in the State Senate race, RepublicanDawn Shawnelle Belinger beat Sue Sink 450 votes to 443 votes.
US Rep. Debbie Dingell was re-elected, defeating challenger Heather Smiley.
The Manchester area is divided between two state senate districts. Freedom and Sharon Townships are in District 14; while Manchester and Bridgewater Townships, and the City of Manchester are in District 15. Democrat incumbent Sue Shink defeated her Republican challenger, Tawn Beliger in District 14. In District 15 Democrat Felcia Brabec defeated Republican Jason Rogers.
The Manchester area is split between two state house seats as well. Bridgewater Township is in the 33rd State House District. Manchester, Sharon, and Freedom townships, as well as the City of Manchester, are within the 47th State House District. In the 33rd District, incumbent Democrat Morgan Forman has defeated Republican challenger Catherine Rogers. In the 47th District, incumbent Democrat Carrie Rheingans has defeated Republican challenger Justin Griffis.
In the two contested nonpartisan races on the ballot, all precincts supported the same candidates. Manchester area voters favored incumbents Megan Cavanagh and Noah Hood for Supreme Court, and Jennifer Lawerence for Probate Court Judge. Cavanagh, Hood, and Lawerence all won their races.
In all 5 Manchester precincts, voters overwhelmingly opposed Prop 1 calling for a constitutional convention and overwhelmingly supported Prop 2 restricting donations from utilities and expanding campaign disclosures. Prop 1 failed statewide and Prop 2 passed statewide, by large margins.
Turnout was higher than four years ago in all precincts. Bridgewater had 74% turnout up from 68%, Freedom had 78% turnout up from 70%, the City of Manchester had 66% turnout up from 62%, Manchester Township had 75% voter turnout up from 68%, and Sharon Township had 74% turnout up from 71%.
All Manchester area precincts had voters favoring voting in person, with voting absentee the second most popular choice, and early (in-person) voting the least popular.
Early voting has only been an option since 2024 and in our area that means driving to Sylvan Township or Ann Arbor to vote except in the case of Bridgewater township. Bridgewater Township manages its own early voting meaning Bridgewater voters can vote in their usual polling location. As a result, 6% to 11% of voters who voted in this election opted for early voting in the rest of the Manchester area precincts, and in Bridgewater, 23% of voters who voted in this election opted to vote early.
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