So can anybody fill me in on what happened to this guy? Don't know anything about him but for an incumbent to get creamed like he did, I'd think there must have been some sort of scandal.
Not necessarily, may have been an anti-incumbent electorate. It was in my household.
He was an accidental Congressman. He got 46%, 51% in a general and 66% as the only candidate on the ballot in a primary. He was a good guy and I think it was worth losing the House seat to keep the foreclosure king out.
“Bentivolio tallied about 66% of the vote with about 75% precincts having reported, according to the Associated Press. Write-ins, most of which went to former state Sen. Nancy Cassis, were at about 34%.”
Steve King for instance gets 43,000 votes in a primary (as the only candidate) and less than 1% or so RINOS and independents protest and write in some other name.
U.S. House, Michigan District 11 General Election, 2012
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
Democratic Syed Taj 44.4% 158,879
Republican Bentivolio 50.8% 181,788
Democratic David Curson 159,258 48.39%
Republican Kerry Bentivolio 151,736 46.10%
But he served a good role in bashing amnesty and bashing the neocons on Syria.
Dave Trott could still lose because he throws people out of their homes. Which is legitimate but not good politics. The biggest threat from Trott is if his donors can take over other congressional districts.
Republican primary results[2]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Kerry Bentivolio 10,280 41.69%
Republican Nancy Cassis 8,803 35.70%
Republican Carolyn Kavanagh 2,653 10.76%
Republican Steve King 1,715 6.95%
Republican Kenneth Crider 1,208 4.90%
Totals 24,659 100.00%