Scripps Loses State House Seat

By Bob Allen and Peter Payette

A strong swing to Republican candidates was more than incumbent state representative Dan Scripps could overcome. Challenger Ray Franz beat Scripps even in his home county of Leelanau.

Scripps will leave after one term in the 101st state house seat, and he says the problems we face take more than two years to solve.

"Voters are impatient and I can understand that," he says. "There are a lot of families across the country and across this region that are struggling. They want a government that is more in tune with what they're facing and more responsive than what they see."  

Scripps beat Ray Franz of Onekama by nearly twenty percent in the last election.

Franz refused a request for an interview with Interlochen Public Radio last night.

Along with Scripps' seat, the 107th state House goes back to the Republicans, after three terms held by Democrat Gary McDowell. The seat went to a 24-year-old Republican from Pellston, Frank Foster.

Dan Benishek, a surgeon and newcomer to politics, turned the 1st Congressional District red for the first time in 18 years. The republican defeated state Representative Gary McDowell in that bid for a seat in Washington.

One Democrat who held onto his seat is Ross Richardson, the only Democrat on the Grand Traverse County Commission. He held off a challenge from Ralph Soffredine, a city Commissioner and former police Chief in Grand Traverse County.