Ann Arbor voters head to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 3, to decide who represents Michigan’s 6th Congressional District in Congress.

Election results are pending. This article will be updated as election officials release vote totals.

Incumbent Democrat Debbie Dingell faces Republican challenger Heather Smiley in a rematch of their 2024 contest. The district covers Washtenaw County and portions of Wayne, Oakland and Monroe counties, according to Dingell’s congressional district information.

Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Eastern time, according to the Michigan Secretary of State. Anyone still in line at their polling place at 8 p.m. will be allowed to vote.

The candidates

Dingell has served in Congress since 2015, according to her House biography. She began representing the current 6th District in 2023, according to her congressional office.

She is serving her sixth consecutive two-year term, according to her 2025 swearing-in announcement. She won reelection in 2024 with 62% of the vote, defeating Smiley and two third-party candidates, according to the House clerk’s election statistics.

Dingell told WEMU that getting the Gelman Sciences site onto the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List was a major accomplishment this term. The EPA confirmed the listing in March. Her campaign priorities include lowering costs and supporting medical research.

Dingell told WEMU she wants to focus on “getting dollars into our community” to support research.

She also has urged the Trump administration to improve relations with Canada and reduce damaging trade barriers, according to an August statement from her office.

Smiley retired from Ford Motor Company, where she worked in analytics and other roles, according to her campaign biography. WDET reported she worked at Ford from 1990 to 2022.

She told WEMU she wants to encourage companies to hire U.S. citizens over visa holders and to offer American workers fair wages. She also said communities being considered for future data centers need more protections and transparency about energy demand.

“Because I’ve worked with these businesses throughout my career, I know what it takes to bring jobs into Michigan,” Smiley told WEMU.

Four other candidates are on the ballot: Libertarian Timothy A. Teagan, U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate Mike Mickevicius, Green Party candidate Clyde Shabazz and Working Class Party candidate Linda Rayburn, according to the state’s official candidate list. Voters may select one candidate for a two-year term.

Early voting and results

As of Oct. 27, more than 1.39 million Michigan voters had already cast ballots statewide, a turnout rate of 18.8% of all active registered voters, the Michigan Secretary of State’s office said. More than 1.1 million voted by mail, and over 215,000 cast ballots at early voting sites.

For most voters, absentee ballots must be received by their local clerks no later than 8 p.m. on election night. Separate deadlines apply to military and overseas ballots, according to state absentee-voting guidance.

The Secretary of State’s office urged voters to use a local ballot drop box or hand-deliver ballots to their clerk’s office rather than rely on the mail this close to Election Day.

Readers can follow returns through the November general election link on the Michigan Secretary of State’s election results page. Initial returns are unofficial and can change as additional ballots are counted.