Jerry Cannon
Jerry Cannon was a 2016 Democratic candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 1st Congressional District of Michigan.[1] Cannon was defeated by Lon Johnson in the Democratic primary.[2]
Cannon sought election to the same seat in 2014.[3] He lost to incumbent Dan Benishek in the general election on November 4, 2014.[4]
Biography
Cannon attended the University of Detroit, where he graduated in 1976 with a Bachelor's in criminal justice. He then earned a Master's in public administration from Central Michigan University in 1987. Cannon is a former Kalkaska County Sheriff and retired army general. From 2003 to 2004, Cannon also served as the commander of the Joint Detention Operations Group at Guantanamo. Regarding his service at the detention facility, Cannon said, “I’ve done that gladly. I’ve done that proudly. I would do it again.”[5]
Elections
2016
Michigan's 1st Congressional District was a battleground district in 2016. Incumbent Dan Benishek (R), who began serving in Congress in 2010, left his seat open by choosing not to seek re-election in 2016. Jack Bergman (R), a retired USMC general, defeated Michigan Democratic Party leader Lon Johnson (D), Diane Bostow (L), and Ellis Boal (G) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Bergman defeated Tom Casperson, a state senator, and Jason Allen, a former state senator in the Republican primary. On the Democratic side, Johnson defeated former Kalkaska County Sheriff Jerry Cannon to win the nomination. The primary elections took place on August 2, 2016.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][2][13][14]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Jack Bergman |
54.9% | 197,777 | |
| Democratic | Lon Johnson | 40.1% | 144,334 | |
| Libertarian | Diane Bostow | 3.7% | 13,386 | |
| Green | Ellis Boal | 1.3% | 4,774 | |
| Total Votes | 360,271 | |||
| Source: Michigan Secretary of State | ||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lon Johnson |
71.6% | 31,677 | ||
| Jerry Cannon | 28.4% | 12,539 | ||
| Total Votes | 44,216 | |||
| Source: Michigan Secretary of State |
||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Jack Bergman |
38.6% | 33,632 | ||
| Tom Casperson | 31.9% | 27,813 | ||
| Jason Allen | 29.4% | 25,607 | ||
| Total Votes | 87,052 | |||
| Source: Michigan Secretary of State |
||||
2014
The 1st Congressional District of Michigan held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. The 1st District was considered one of Ballotpedia's battleground districts in 2014. Incumbent Rep. Dan Benishek (R) won by only 1,881 votes in 2012. The district saw recent changes in its electorate, with Obama narrowly winning the district in 2008, but Romney claiming victory in 2012. Both the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took notice of this district, adding both Benishek and Democratic challenger Jerry Cannon, a former sheriff, to their respective election programs. Benishek won the Republican nomination against Alan Arcand in the primary on August 5, 2014. Benishek then defeated Jerry Cannon (D), Ellis Boal (Green Party) and Loel Gnadt (L) on November 4, 2014, in the general election.
Denying phone comments
In January 2014, Cannon was interviewed by a reporter from the Daily Mining Gazette. The day afterwards, the reporter called Cannon to ask follow-ups. The person who answered the phone identified himself as Cannon, and went on to express his dislike of the Affordable Care Act. Cannon's campaign denied that he had made the anti-Obamacare comments, and the newspaper later revealed that the reporter had dialed the wrong number and had spoken with a Cannon impersonator, and not Cannon himself. Cannon's campaign subsequently confirmed his support for the Affordable Care Act.[15] Cannon stated that the "worst thing that could be done" to the Affordable Care Act is to "throw it all away."[16]
2014 Election results
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Dan Benishek Incumbent |
52.1% | 130,414 | |
| Democratic | Jerry Cannon | 45.3% | 113,263 | |
| Libertarian | Loel Robert Gnadt | 1.5% | 3,823 | |
| Green | Ellis Boal | 1.1% | 2,631 | |
| Total Votes | 250,131 | |||
| Source: Michigan Secretary of State | ||||
Campaign themes
2016
The following issues were listed on Cannon's campaign website. For a full list of campaign themes, click here.
| “ |
|
” |
| —Jerry Cannon's campaign website, http://cannon4congress.com/issues | ||
Campaign finance summary
Ballotpedia currently provides campaign finance data for all federal- and state-level candidates from 2020 and later. We are continuously working to expand our data to include prior elections. That information will be published here as we acquire it. If you would like to help us provide this data, please consider donating to Ballotpedia.
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Jerry + Cannon + Michigan + Congress"
- All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.
See also
- United States House of Representatives
- Michigan's 1st Congressional District election, 2016
- Michigan's 1st Congressional District
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Facebook, "Mobile Uploads," August 23, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Politico, "Michigan House Primaries Results," August 2, 2016
- ↑ ‘’Roll Call’’ “Ex-Gitmo Commander to Challenge House Republican,” accessed August 12, 2013
- ↑ Politico, "House Elections Results," accessed November 11, 2014
- ↑ Roll Call, "Democratic Candidate Says Gitmo Experience Is Not a Liability (Video)," October 29, 2013
- ↑ Interlochen Public Radio, "U.S. Rep. Dan Benishek says he's running again in 2016," March 24, 2015
- ↑ Detroit Free Press, "Benishek abruptly announces retirement at end of term," September 15, 2015
- ↑ WMUK, "Michigan Democratic Party Leader Could Run for Congress," June 22, 2015
- ↑ Facebook, "Mobile Uploads," August 23, 2015
- ↑ Up Matters, "It's official: Casperson to run for U.S. House of Representatives," November 9, 2015
- ↑ MLive, "Former Sen. Jason Allen to run for Michigan's 1st congressional district," January 14, 2016
- ↑ WBKB-TV, "USMC retiree announces candidacy for MI 1st Congressional District seat," March 3, 2016
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "2016 Michigan Candidate Listing," accessed September 6, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "Election Results," accessed November 8, 2016
- ↑ Metro Times, "Northern Michigan newspaper calls congressional candidate for comment, later realizes it was probably someone else," February 28, 2014
- ↑ Talking Points Memo, Mystery Surrounds Who's Answering The Phone For Dem Candidate," January 22, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
