Darany Defeats Sareini for 15th District House Seat
Woronchak Retains Commission seat
Dearborn Councilman George Darany Tuesday night edged Councilwoman Suzanne Sareini for the 15th District seat in the Michigan House of Representatives.
Despite being outspent by Sareini by a fairly large margin, Darany squeaked out a victory, defeating Sareini by 2,122 votes, 12,408 to 10,220.
Dearborn Councilman Darany wins State House seat.
Darany was very statesmanlike in his victory Tuesday night, crediting his win to the many friends on his campaign who helped go door-to-door.
“I think the 17,000 doors we knocked on really made a difference. You can’t discount that,” he told DeepsaidWhat.com from his campaign victory party Tuesday night. “We went door-to-door and it paid off.”
The race between the two Dearborn council members turned ugly with just over a week to go before the general election.
Darany’s Democratic Party recently mailed a flyer to homes that labeled Sareini “Suzanne Chapter 7 Sareini,” claiming she had to file for personal bankruptcy twice. “And she thinks she knows how to fix Michigan’s economy?,” the flyer states.
On the other side of the ticket, Sareini’s Republican Party called out Darany for voting against a project in Dearborn (the Dearborn Town Center at Michigan and Schaefer that is nearly complete) “to keep and create over 500 jobs . . . Darany now claims that jobs are his top priority.”
While it’s difficult to determine just how much of an impact the attacks on Sareini from the Democratic Party really played in this election, the fact that a Republican candidate was unable to close out a victory in a year when Democrats are under fire suggests the mailings did indeed stick in the minds of voters when they went to the polls.
Following his victory Tuesday night, Darany said he only wanted to campaign on his credentials.
“I am sorry about the ugliness,” he told DeepsaidWhat.com. “Unfortunately, that is politics on the state level. When the two political parties got involved, it turned a corner that I didn’t like.”
An impressive 43.2 percent of registered voters in Deaborn cast ballots Tuesday.
In other races, Gary Woronchak was reelected, easily defeating J. Scott Saionz for the 13 District Wayne County Commission seat, 16,994 to 6,921.
In the Dearborn School Board race, it appears incubant James Schoolmaster could keep his seat. With all of Dearborn reporting, he was ahead of Roxanne McDonald by just 137 votes. Schoolmaster finished with 8,838 votes to McDonald’s 8.701 in Dearborn. It isn’t clear yet how the two did in Dearborn Heights. Residents living around the River Oaks school could determine the outcome of this race. As of 10 p.m., we did not have results for Dearborn Heights.
To see how Dearborn residents voted overall, click HERE.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:47 pm
I shook Darany’s hand at Bryant tonite, and wished him well.
We should all set aside the partisan bickering and stand together for the City of Dearborn.
Wiser minds have said:
“United we stand, divided we fall.”
“We all hang together, or we all hang separately.”
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:57 pm
Congratulations George!
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Very happy to see that George won over the negative campaign that was run for Sareini. It was an ugly race; I never received any information or campaign ads that told me why I should vote for Councilwomen Sareini, I only received negative ads from her or on behalf of her campaign about Councilman Darany. I hope this will help turn the tide and make campaigns realize that we need positive reasons to vote for and not just negative ads that tell us to vote against.
November 3rd, 2010 at 10:13 am
If all politics are local, then this race proves that negative ads do not work. I still do not know what either one of the two candidates stood for other than one is a Republican and the other a Democrat.
The re-election of John Dingell and the election of George Darany prove once again that the Democratic Club in Dearborn is the political king maker.
November 3rd, 2010 at 10:21 am
On second thought can someone tell me one thing that the Democratic representives and senators have ever done for Dearborn. None of them have ever had a leadership post or distinguished themselves.
And if John Dingell was so powerful, why did he get stripped of hiis leadership post and why do we have CAFE standards.
November 3rd, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Diogenes – I was really surprised when Dbrn voters cast more votes for Snyder and Steele then the did for their Dem. opponents. At least that put a little dent in the Dem. Club in Dbrn.
November 3rd, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Ok George – I split my ballot to vote for you! Don’t let me down. Don’t end up like a “Do Nothing” like Polidori. Your heart has always been in Dearborn and you have been a true friend of the city. Make us all proud up there.
November 3rd, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Diogenes, Dingell used to head an important committee and he did slow down and affect legislation. He was stripped of his leadership post precisely because he wouldn’t have allowed the ‘cap and trade’ legislation to pass through his committee. Once stripped of that post, he seems to be playing the ‘good boy’ so Pelosi will allow his seniority to come back into play and put him in charge of something.
I don’t support him any longer, but I had to laugh when I heard a radio commentator say that this is probably Dingell’s last race, that he would retire. I think that John Dingell is aiming to die in office, as his father did. Whether one supports him or not, I think that has been obvious for decades. When I and other HFCC students met with John Dingell in Washington, he had been in office over 25 years. I had expected that he would have eased his son into position to take over, but thirty years later…
November 3rd, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Look at who replaced Dingell on the committee; an eco-freindly liberal Californian. Dingell represents the old Democratic party. When he wouldn’t allow Pelosi’s pro-environmental agenda which included increasing the MPG requirements for new vehicles into his committee he lost his committee.
November 3rd, 2010 at 5:13 pm
I don’t think people are talking enough about Gary Woronchak. He is a guy who used to be a member of the GOP, but switch parties because it is easier to be elected as a Democrat in Dearborn, than a Republican. This guy [Woronchak] is a perfect example of what is wrong with this country!!! This is why the Tea Party Movement is so strong, because of Politions like Woronchak who will do anything to get elected. How much longer are we as Americans going to allow shenanigans like this continue!!!! Dearborn voters need to wake up like the rest of the country did last night.
November 3rd, 2010 at 8:04 pm
The numbers from the Dearborn voters are interesting…In a generally Republican surge across the state, more Dearbornites voted straight-ticket Democrat than Republican. 2,867 more straight-ticket Democrats than straight ticket Republicans. Despite that, John Dingell lost the vote in his home town of Dearborn…not by much, but he lost. Outside of this town he won easily.
There were 95 write-in votes for school board. I don’t know whose name was on any of those ballots, but if those voters wanted change they missed their chance to elect a new person…
And Snyder received twice as many non-straight party votes as did Bernero. Republican surge, indeed.
November 3rd, 2010 at 8:10 pm
I didn’t notice a lot of noise about her race, except to notice the newspapers preferred her opponent, but Susan Hubbard won a position on the 3rd Circuit court. She received 53% of the vote over John J. Sullivan. I am told it is hard to beat an Irish name for a judgeship in Michigan, for some reason. Susan Hubbard pulled it off. I think she will make a very good judge. Congratulations, Ms. Hubbard.
November 4th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Gary Woronchak is a prime example of the do nothing elected official from Dearborn.
The CAFE standards were first put into place when Dingell was being written up by the press as one of the most powerful congressmen in the country. This does not even address the two empty suit senators we have from this state.
November 4th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
I am so glad that this election is over. The negativity was mind blowing.
Having watched the city council meetings for many years, I believe that Mrs. Sareini’s inability to come across as someone who could lead the council or have a passionate stance on an issue hurt her more than any negative advertising.
The voters of Dearborn watch these meetings. The majority voted for Darany.
It is time to move on and put all of the negativity behind us. In these hard economic times, we all need to work together to make Dearborn a better place to live.
November 4th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
John Higgins,
I suspect you are a Susan supporter. or a “Hubbard” supporter. As far back as I can remember SH has been non-effective in any of the offices she has held. I just wish she would be honest about where she lives. Dearborn or Oakland County. I just never see her around the condo she owns in Dearborn, I never see her daugher there. Mom and Dad are the only people you see going in and out of the it. Oh wait that’s right Scotty beams her there every night. Sorry forget it. no one would do anything about it if she didn’t live there anyway.
November 5th, 2010 at 12:31 am
Well, gosh, ‘Millwood’, didn’t I just say I think Susan Hubbard will make a good judge? I am a supporter in that sense. I haven’t spoken to Ms. Hubbard since a couple of elections ago and did not have a lawn sign for her. But she bucked the trend and beat an Irish name. Having an Irish background myself, I always found it interesting that Irish names win election to judgeships in Michigan. That is why, in the early ’80’s at HFCC, a non-Irish judge giving a speech wanted to have judges appointed by the Governor, rather than elected. Some states do that. My old poli sci professor, John Smith, had taught us that by all the objective standards the quality of the judges seemed to be the same, whether appointed or elected.
I will also counter the posters who have run down Gary Woronchak. I think he has been a fine communicator in all his elected positions, and he represented the people of Dearborn and their view of things. I don’t know what the grumblers are complaining about. I think he would make a very good Mayor of Dearborn, in fact, and I hope he runs next time.
And, no, ‘Millwood’, I am not related to him. I have never worked a campaign for him. I have watched him handle being editor of the Dearborn Press when he was 25 years old, and his political career since.
November 5th, 2010 at 12:39 am
One further note: I am a Darany supporter, and volunteered for him on election day. However, I do believe we would have been okay if Ms. Sarieni had been elected.
If you look at the statistics, more people who did NOT vote a straight ticket in Dearborn, voted for Ms. Sarieni. George had a head start, in effect, with the Democrat party strength in Dearborn. I think Ms. Sarieni can take some comfort in those numbers. She can also take great pride in her family. I met many members of her extended family on Tuesday, as I was driving around the coffee and hot chocolate to the west side precincts, and without fail they are all terrific.
Congratulations, George, I know you will do a great job. And congratulations to Suzanne, for the reasons above.
November 5th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Hey John I’ll join a “Gary Woronchak” for Mayor of Dearborn anytime!!! I’m not related to Gary either but did have a sign for him. As a matter of fact when he asked me if he could put a sign on my lawn I told him yes and if and when he ran for Mayor of Dearborn I would put up a billboard for him!!!!!
November 5th, 2010 at 8:53 pm
Oh jee whats George gonna do ride the trolley to Lansing ( if he can even find one)? Yeah hes really got the failed business experience to be our rep. And Waranchack is a joke, switching parties just because of the “strength” of the party in the area is dead proof right there that he is in it for himself!
November 7th, 2010 at 7:12 am
While a few of you, for whatever reason, might not be pleased that Gary Woronchak was re-elected as Wayne County Commissioner and George Darany was newly elected as State Rep for Dearborn, this is the choice the majority of voters made and these are the people who are representing us and the people we have to work with.
If you don’t like them for whatever reason and you didn’t vote for them, if you are a Dearborn citizen who really cares about Dearborn and you want to see change and/or want to address issues, it might be wise of you to put those issues behind you and ask for their help on whatever issue(s) you feel need addressing.
Before I knew either Gary or George, whenever I called and/or emailed them they contacted me back and in most cases in an expedient manner. I have found both of them to be easy to work with, they both have a great “ear” and let you talk, instead of giving long winded speeches like so some politicians do.
As a state rep, Gary helped get millions for Dearborn Public Schools and more. As a county rep, Gary has helped obtain funding for Dearborn Parks and more. If I cannot find an answer to something, Gary finds that answer. If you want to meet with Gary, contact him and he will meet with you one on one or with a group. He has worked tirelessly for the City of Dearborn, Wayne County and the state and I have always found him a pleasure to work with, something I cannot say for everyone I have had to deal with that is politically connected.
The short time George has been on the council he has helped us in numerous ways. A lot of people don’t know this, probably because George is not a bragger, but George donated money to the fundraising for Save Our Pools (SOP) and he came and met with SOP members at Summer Stephens before crucial meetings about the pool to show his support. Dating back to way before he was a council member, George Darany has been heavily involved in many volunteer causes for the city of Dearborn. I’ve heard more than one council member tell me that he is the hardest working member of the council.
I have found both to be good men and representatives of the people and since they are the ones the majority elected, I choose to work with them. I would have chosen to work with Suzanne Sareini had she been elected, because when the majority speaks, it says volumes about what direction they want to take our state, county and city and I see absolutely nothing positive for our state, county or city if I choose to work against them.”
I would also hope that anyone else who truly cares about Dearborn, Wayne County and the State of Michigan would do the same.
November 8th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
This says it all about Darany…….
Following his victory Tuesday night, Darany said he only wanted to campaign on his credentials.
“I am sorry about the ugliness,” he told DeepsaidWhat.com. “Unfortunately, that is politics on the state level. When the two political parties got involved, it turned a corner that I didn’t like.”
I never learned what is credentials are. He is nothing more than a Democratic Party stooge. He acts like he had nothing to say about this own campaign. The b.s. has already started from him. Oh, one more thing…I am not a Sarieni supporter by any means. She is equally incompetent for the job.
November 10th, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Credentials, Bill? I don’t know what you are looking for, but I supported George Darany because he is an open man. He has looked to support the community in many ways for many years. Gosh, do you suppose he wanted a position like he has now? I presume so, and see nothing wrong with ambition. In fact, isn’t ambition one of the things necessary to be a successful politician? Are you looking for your state rep to have a doctorate, or own a multi-billion dollar business? What? We in Dearborn have elected to state-wide office a teacher, a front-office worker at the school board who left her school board elected post, a former fire chief, and on and on. Some were better than others, but all had experiences that made them one of us, and spoke for us. Now we have elected as our state rep a city council member who formerly owned a business and knows Dearborn well. Good credentials.
November 13th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
If the mailings we received were any indication of the sequence of nasty/dirty campaign tactics, Madame Sareini fired the first shot which forced Mr. Darany to respond. His (or his campaign’s or party’s) response regarding Sareini’s fiscal inaptitude caused me to split my vote as well…usually I would have voted for the Republican candidate. George Darany owes no apologies to voters–but the fulfillment of his promise to serve Dearborn well in Lansing is tantamount to those of us who flipped our party votes for him.