Republican Roman Gaskey and Democrat Sarah Pounds face off Nov. 3 for the open Michigan House District 54 seat that covers Bloomfield Hills and Orion Township, plus parts of Auburn Hills, Bloomfield Township and Oakland Township.

The race has no incumbent because state Rep. Donni Steele, a Republican from Orion Township, is running for state Senate instead of seeking reelection. Steele first won the seat in 2022 and won reelection by about 5 percentage points in 2024, according to Bridge Michigan.

Both parties see the seat as competitive. A Detroit Regional Chamber guide published in May listed a 53.7% Republican base, a measure of partisan lean rather than a current poll.

Control of the Michigan House hangs in the balance statewide. Republicans hold a 58-52 edge heading into the election, and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee identifies District 54 as a target for a Republican-to-Democratic flip.

Gaskey, a Lake Orion native and recent University of Michigan graduate with a degree in financial mathematics and data science, won a contested Republican primary over former Oxford Township Trustee Jeffrey Omtvedt. According to his campaign website, he served on the Oxford Downtown Development Authority Economic Vitality Committee and lists housing affordability, energy costs and health care pricing among his priorities. His campaign lists endorsements from Steele and former Gov. Rick Snyder.

Pounds, a Lake Orion paralegal, ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. She previously ran for Oakland County commissioner in 2022 and lost, The Oakland Press reported. The Detroit Regional Chamber’s May guide described her as chair of YIMBY Oakland County and a member of several Oakland County boards.

On her campaign’s priorities page, Pounds calls for more affordable housing, lower household costs, reliable public school funding and expanded access to health care.

The race has drawn attention beyond policy. Pounds was among seven Democratic House candidates who released a joint statement Monday, Oct. 26, alleging that political advertisements and text messages paired false claims about their records with personal phone numbers, encouraging people to contact them.

Pounds told The Oakland Press that her husband Nathan’s phone number appeared on a flyer distributed across the district and that her family sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Michigan Republican Party.

Pounds’ campaign manager, Ashlee Mancuso, told The Oakland Press that a man harassed her twice, including at a women’s leadership event on Oct. 23 where he confronted Pounds with a phone camera and Meta glasses on. Pounds said she intended to file a police report and would no longer bring her daughters to campaign events for the remainder of the campaign.

“My oldest daughter was there when that man was intimidating Ashlee and I and in our faces and physically like pushing his way to us,” Pounds told The Oakland Press. “And that was really frightening for my daughter.”

The Oakland Press reported that the Michigan GOP did not respond to its repeated requests for comment on the joint statement.

The Oakland County Times has posted video interviews with both candidates.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, according to Michigan’s election guidance.