Michigan State House Results: Foster Leads by 55 Votes

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. Fifty-five votes separate the two leading Republicans in Michigan House District 13, a margin small enough to invite questions about a recount but not one that automatically triggers one under state law.

Mark Thomas Foster has 2,229 votes to Julie Leonardi’s 2,174 in Macomb County’s current unofficial return. Casey Armitage is third with 1,722. The three candidates received 6,125 votes in all, putting Foster’s lead at just under nine-tenths of a percentage point roughly one vote for every 111 Republican ballots cast in the race.

A statewide results tracker lists all 27 District 13 precincts as reporting. The count is therefore complete at the precinct-reporting stage, but it is not yet final. Macomb County labels the figures unofficial, and Michigan election officials say results become official only after county and state canvassers finish reviewing and certifying them.

Leonardi publicly acknowledged the result after Election Day. “Congratulations to Mark Foster on his victory by 55 votes,” she wrote in a campaign post, before thanking her supporters. The post did not mention a recount.

A narrow margin does not mean an automatic recount

Michigan’s recount rules draw a line between a primary and a general election.

The state’s recount manual says an automatic recount may occur in a State House election decided by 25 votes or fewer, but it expressly excludes State House primaries from that provision. Foster’s 55-vote primary lead therefore does not produce an automatic recount.

A recount could still be requested after certification. A candidate may petition if the filing meets the state’s requirements, including a good-faith claim that an error left the candidate with a reasonable chance of winning. Because the unofficial margin is below 200 votes, the chair of a state political party may also petition on a candidate’s behalf. Recounts of State Legislature contests fall under the authority of the bipartisan Board of State Canvassers.

That process cannot be judged from the election-night total alone. The result first goes through the canvass, when officials review precinct records, reconcile totals and correct clerical mistakes. Michigan’s official 2026 election calendar required county canvassers to begin meeting Aug. 6 and gives them until Aug. 18 to complete the primary canvass. The Board of State Canvassers must certify the primary by Aug. 24.

The calendar also allowed voters until 5 p.m. Aug. 7 to cure a signature problem on an otherwise valid absentee ballot. Timely ballots from military and overseas voters may arrive through Aug. 10. Those rules are why a complete unofficial precinct count can still change during the canvass.

Foster is positioned to face Mai Xiong in November

If the canvass confirms the present order, Foster will face Democratic state Rep. Mai Xiong in the Nov. 3 general election.

Xiong was the only named Democratic candidate in the District 13 primary. Macomb County’s summary lists 11,234 votes for her. That figure should not be read as a direct forecast against Foster Xiong was unopposed, while Republicans divided their votes among three candidates, and participation in one party’s primary does not measure the full November electorate.

District 13 includes parts of Warren, Roseville and St. Clair Shores and has 92,063 residents, according to Xiong’s official legislative page. It was competitive in the last general election. In 2024, Xiong received 24,911 votes, Republican Ronald Singer received 22,673 and Working Class Party write-in candidate Hashim Malik Bakari received 1,430, according to Macomb County’s certified result. Xiong finished 2,238 votes ahead of Singer.

The district will be one piece of a statewide fight for the chamber. Republicans currently hold 58 of the Michigan House’s 110 seats and Democrats hold 52, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. A majority requires 56 seats, and every State House seat is on the November ballot.

That arithmetic makes District 13 relevant, but it does not by itself make the race decisive. Party control will depend on outcomes across Michigan, not on a single Macomb County contest.

Why local results can trail statewide race calls

The timing of the District 13 return also illustrates a basic feature of Michigan elections: the state does not run one centralized election-night count.

The Michigan Department of State says more than 1,600 county, city and township clerks share responsibility for administering elections. Municipal results move through county offices, and different county websites can publish on different schedules. The department’s county results directory warns that election-night figures remain unofficial until the appropriate canvassing board certifies them.

The supplied election-night broadcasts captured that process in real time. In WZZM’s Aug. 4 coverage, Muskegon County Clerk Karen D. Buie said her office planned to post results after all precinct totals had arrived. That was Muskegon County’s stated approach, not proof of Macomb County’s exact publication policy, but it shows why one local page may remain incomplete while statewide television desks are already calling other races.

For District 13, the office label matters as much as the timing. The Macomb summary separately lists “Representative in Congress” and “State Representative.” Foster, Leonardi, Armitage and Xiong appear in the State Representative section; Michigan’s 13th Congressional District is a different race with different boundaries and candidates.

The clearest description of the race as of Aug. 8 is therefore narrow but firm: Foster holds a 55-vote lead in the complete unofficial count, Leonardi has publicly congratulated him, and certification not the election-night dashboard will determine the official Republican nominee.