Michigan's 5th Senate district

Michigan's 5th Senate district is one of 38 districts in the Michigan Senate. It has been represented by Democrat Dayna Polehanki since 2023, following her primary defeat of fellow Democrat Betty Jean Alexander.^[2][3]

Michigan's 5th State Senate district
Senator	Dayna Polehanki D–Livonia
Demographics	63% White 19% Black 4% Hispanic 9% Asian 4% Multiracial
Population (2022)	259,502
Notes	[1]

Geography

District 5 encompasses part of Wayne County.^[4]

2011 Apportionment Plan

District 5, as dictated by the 2011 Apportionment Plan, was based in central Wayne County, covering parts of western Detroit as well as the surrounding communities of Dearborn Heights, Garden City, Inkster, and Redford.^[5]

The district was largely located within Michigan's 13th congressional district, also extending into the 12th and 14th districts. It overlapped with the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 13th districts of the Michigan House of Representatives.^[6]

List of senators

Senator	Party		Dates	Residence	Notes
Charles C. Hascall		Democratic	1835–1836	Mount Clemens	Resigned.[7][8][9]
John Stockton		Democratic	1835–1836	Mount Clemens	[7][10]
Ebenezer Raynale		Democratic	1835–1837	Franklin	[7][11]
John Clark		Democratic	1835–1838	China	[7][12]
Randolph Manning		Democratic	1837	Pontiac	[7][13]
Jacob Summers		Democratic	1837–1838	Utica	[7][14]
John Bartow		Democratic	1838	Flint	[7][15]
Elijah F. Cook		Democratic	1838	Farmington	[7][16]
James Kingsley		Democratic	1839	Ann Arbor	[7][17]
Olney Hawkins		Whig	1839–1840	Ann Arbor	[7][18][19]
Townsend E. Gidley		Whig	1839–1841	Jackson County	[7][20]
James M. Edmunds		Whig	1840–1841	Ypsilanti	[7][21]
Edward L. Fuller		Whig	1841	Ann Arbor	[7][22]
David E. Deming		Whig	1842	Kalamazoo	[7][23]
Digby V. Bell		Democratic	1842–1843	Ada	[7][24][25]
George R. Redfield		Democratic	1842–1844	Adamsville	Elected in 1842 to fill a vacancy left by John S. Barry's election as governor.[7][26][25]
Lewis F. Starkey		Democratic	1843–1844	Kalamazoo	[7][27][28][29]
William A. Richmond		Democratic	1844–1845	Grand Rapids	[7][30]
Joseph S. Chipman		Democratic	1845–1846	Niles	[7][31][32][33]
Flavius J. Littlejohn		Democratic	1845–1846	Allegan	[7][34][35][33]
Rix Robinson		Democratic	1846	Ada	[7][36]
Loren Maynard		Democratic	1847	Marengo	[7][37]
Nathaniel A. Balch		Democratic	1847–1848	Kalamazoo	[7][38]
Campbell Waldo		Democratic	1848–1849	Albion	[7][39][40]
David S. Walbridge		Whig	1849–1850	Kalamazoo	[7][41]
Charles Dickey		Whig	1850–1852	Marshall	[7][42]
George Thomas		Whig	1851–1852	Yorkville	[7][43]
The 1850 Michigan Constitution takes effect, changing the district from a multi-member district to a single-member district.[44][45]
David A. Wright		Democratic	1853–1854	Oakland County	[7][46]
Rowland E. Trowbridge		Republican	1857–1860	Birmingham	[7][47]
Byron G. Stout		Democratic	1861–1862	Oakland County	[7][48]
Charles V. Babcock		Democratic	1863–1864	Southfield	[7][49]
Loren Ludlow Treat		Democratic	1865–1866	Oxford	[7][50][51]
Charles Draper		Republican	1867–1868	Pontiac	[7][52]
P. Dean Warner		Republican	1869–1870	Farmington	[7][53]
Layman B. Price		Unknown	1871–1872	Lakeville	[7][54]
John J. Sumner		Republican	1873–1874	Bedford Township	[7][55]
Heman J. Redfield		Democratic	1875–1878	Monroe	[7][56]
Harry A. Conant		Republican	1879–1880	Monroe	[7][57]
John Strong Jr.		Democratic	1881–1884	South Rockwood	[7][58]
Christian Hertzler		Democratic	1885–1886	Monroe County	Elected on a fusion ticket.[7][59][60]
George Howell		Republican	1887–1888	Tecumseh	[7][61]
Arthur Dodge Gilmore		Republican	1889–1890	Blissfield	[7][62]
George B. Horton		Republican	1891	Lenawee County	Lost seat after election challenge.[63][64][65]
James H. Morrow		Democratic	1891–1894	Adrian	[7][66]
Edwin Eaton		Republican	1895–1896	Hudson	[7][67]
William Jibb		Republican	1897–1898	Maybee	[7][68]
James W. Helme Jr.		Democratic	1899–1902	Adrian	[7][69]
Simeon Van Akin		Republican	1903–1906	Ida	[7][70]
Fred B. Kline		Republican	1907–1908	Addison	[7][71]
George G. Scott		Republican	1909–1918	Wayne County	[7][72]
Fred C. Rowe		Republican	1919–1920	Detroit	[7][73]
Oscar A. Riopelle		Republican	1921–1924	Detroit	[7][74]
Ari H. Woodruff		Republican	1925–1926	Wayne County	[7][75]
George M. Condon		Republican	1927–1930	Detroit	[7][76]
Clarence J. Dacey		Republican	1931–1932	Detroit	[7][77]
Lee A. Gorman		Democratic	1933–1936	Detroit	[7][78]
William M. Bradley		Democratic	1937–1940	Detroit	[7][79]
Charles S. Blondy		Democratic	1941–1954	Detroit	[7][80]
Stanley J. Novak		Democratic	1955–1964	Detroit	[7][81]
Bernard F. O'Brien Jr.		Democratic	1965–1966	Detroit	[7][82]
Arthur Cartwright		Democratic	1967–1978	Detroit	Resigned.[7][83]
Jackie Vaughn III		Democratic	1978–1982	Detroit	[7][84]
Michael J. O'Brien Jr.		Democratic	1983–1998	Detroit	[7][85]
Burton Leland		Democratic	1999–2006	Detroit	[7][86]
Tupac A. Hunter		Democratic	2007–2014	Detroit	[7][87]
David Knezek		Democratic	2015–2018	Dearborn Heights	[7][88]
Betty Jean Alexander		Democratic	2019–2022	Detroit	[7][89]
Dayna Polehanki		Democratic	2023–present	Livonia	[90]

Recent election results

2022

2022 Michigan Senate election, District 5^[91]

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dayna Polehanki (incumbent)	19,822	74.0
	Democratic	Velma Jean Overman	6,954	26.0
Total votes			26,776	100
	Republican	Emily Bauman	6,909	42.0
	Republican	Leonard C. Scott Jr.	5,442	33.1
	Republican	Jody M. Rice-White	4,106	24.9
Total votes			16,457	100
General election
	Democratic	Dayna Polehanki (incumbent)	64,455	61.1
	Republican	Emily Bauman	41,091	38.9
Total votes			105,546	100
	Democratic hold

2018

2018 Michigan Senate election, District 5^[91]

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Betty Jean Alexander	18,928	54.5
	Democratic	David Knezek (incumbent)	15,803	45.5
Total votes			34,731	100
General election
	Democratic	Betty Jean Alexander	70,010	77.4
	Republican	DeShawn Wilkins	16,479	18.2
	Working Class	Larry Betts	3,944	4.4
Total votes			90,433	100
	Democratic hold

2014

2014 Michigan Senate election, District 5^[91]

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	David Knezek	8,470	32.2
	Democratic	Shanelle Jackson	6,317	24.0
	Democratic	David Nathan	5,526	21.0
	Democratic	Thomas Stallworth III	4,301	16.3
	Democratic	Carrie O'Connor	1,189	4.5
	Democratic	Frank Tomcsik	507	1.9
Total votes			26,310	100
General election
	Democratic	David Knezek	59,680	81.8
	Republican	Jennifer Rynicki	13,286	18.2
Total votes			72,966	100
	Democratic hold

Federal and statewide results

Year	Office	Results[92]
2020	President	Biden 77.4 – 21.3%
2018	Senate	Stabenow 78.7 – 19.3%
	Governor	Whitmer 79.7 – 17.9%
2016	President	Clinton 76.1 – 20.7%
2014	Senate	Peters 81.1 – 15.9%
	Governor	Schauer 75.3 – 23.2%
2012	President	Obama 81.1 – 18.3%
	Senate	Stabenow 83.2 – 14.1%

Historical district boundaries

Map	Description	Apportionment Plan	Notes
	Wayne County (part) Detroit (part) Ecorse River Rouge	1964 Apportionment Plan	[93]
	Wayne County (part) Detroit (part)	1972 Apportionment Plan	[94]
	Wayne County (part) Detroit (part)	1982 Apportionment Plan	[95]
	Wayne County (part) Detroit (part)	1992 Apportionment Plan	[96]
	Wayne County (part) Dearborn Heights Detroit (part) Inkster	2001 Apportionment Plan	[97]
	Wayne County (part) Dearborn Heights Detroit (part) Garden City Inkster Redford Township	2011 Apportionment Plan	[98]