TRAVERSE CITY -- Wayne Schmidt spent part of the day reflecting on a successful state House campaign he viewed as upbeat and effective.
But his defeated opponent, local attorney Roman Grucz, seethed over an at-times bruising battle for the 104th District, a territory that covers Grand Traverse and Kalkaska counties.
It was a race Grucz described as "gutter politics."
Schmidt, a Republican county commissioner in Grand Traverse, ran up a 10 percent gap over Grucz in their home county and maintained that margin in Kalkaska, where vote counts lagged into the early hours Wednesday.
Schmidt finished with 29,116 votes, according to unofficial voting tallies, a number that represented just over 53 percent of the vote. Grucz totaled 23,465, or 43 percent, while Libertarian candidate Dan McDougall collected 2,069 votes.
"I'm very excited," Schmidt said.
He said his top priorities in Lansing will be to modify the state's business tax structure and eliminate the business tax surcharge that's drawn wide criticism from business interests around the state.
Grucz said his campaign "worked hard," but was sidetracked by a slew of negative attacks in the form of campaign mailers and robo calls by Republican interests, tactics from which Schmidt attempted to distance himself.
"I honestly think it was extremely close until the Republican Party stepped in," Grucz said. "Gutter politics, I never thought I'd see it here, but we did in this race. Frankly, I think (Schmidt) should be ashamed of himself."
Schmidt said he had "no control" over the anti-Grucz mailers distributed by the state GOP and criticized some of their content. He also said there was negative campaigning from both parties in various state House races.
"I did not approve of it, and I don't appreciate it," Schmidt said. "I can only control what my campaign does."
Schmidt said he wants to downplay partisan politics and plans to work with both parties in Lansing.
"The state's got a lot of problems," Schmidt said. "There's more than enough down in Lansing for Democrats and Republicans to work on."
Grucz isn't sure of his future political plans, but said he's "not going to disappear."
"I'll stay involved in the community," he said.
Schmidt's future for now is in Lansing, where he said the Legislature's biggest challenge is reversing the state's extended economic downturn. He hopes northern Michigan can be an example for the rest of Michigan in how to diversify the state's economy.
"We've been fortunate here in northern Michigan," he said. "We've been a bright spot, but we need to be brighter and we need the rest of the state to shine."
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