Two more candidates have thrown their hats into the August Republican primary ring, making for four thus far who will battle it out for the chance to challenge U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, in November.
Paul Junge of Brighton and Kristina Lyke of Fowlerville join Nikki Snyder, a member of the state Board of Education, and Mike Detmer, a Howell Realtor, in the Aug. 4, 2020, Republican primary.
Junge, 53, has worked in a variety of fields, including as a news anchor at Fox47 in Lansing, a deputy district attorney in a domestic violence unit, and, most recently, as an advisor in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; he left the agency after eight months to care for his father, who died in July. Junge moved back to Brighton in September.
Kristina Lyke, 43, works as an attorney at Lyke Law in East Lansing. A Pinckney native, she currently lives in Fowlerville. She made history in Pinckney when, at the age of 20, she became the youngest person and first woman ever to serve on the Pinckney Board of Trustees.
Lyke was elected to the Pinckney board a second time, though it’s unclear how long she served. She interned for a year with state Rep. Dan Gustafson; and worked for state Rep. Paul DeWeese and then Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus. After graduating from Cooley Law School, she started practicing law and opened Lyke Law in East Lansing.
Slotkin, a moderate Democrat, flipped the seat held by Republicans for almost two decades by beating U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Rochester.
