Attorney General Mike Cox was among those to concede the Republican  Republican gubernatorial primary election on Aug. 3 for Michigan’s governor race at his election party at Laurel Manor in Livona. Cox, along with state Sen. Tom George, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard and U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, was defeated by Rick Snyder of Ann Arbor, who is CEO of Ardesta LLC, a high-tech venture capital firm.

Snyder will run against Democratic candidate and Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero in the 2010 November election.

Republicans came out in droves to vote in the hotly-contested race with a turnout of more than 1,000,000 voters among the top four candidates, which is almost twice what the only two Democratic candidates received.

Hoekstra, a U.S. Congressman from Holland, was favored going into the election but fell to Snyder by 9 percentage points.

Cox said he has no plans for after his term ends Jan. 1 of next year. “I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do next, but I’m so proud to have served the people of Michigan for 21 years,” Cox said at Laurel Manor in Livonia on election night.

“I have to tell you when I leave my office they’re going to have to drag me out by my fingernails because it’s been a great ride,” he said.

“I know if the Republican party gathers, we will elect a new governor by the name of Rick Snyder who will take office in January.”

Cox thanked family, friends and supporters at Laurel Manor for their efforts in helping him attempt to become the state’s next governor. According to Cox, volunteers made 25,000 phone calls on election day.

Bouchard was endorsed by The Arab American News. He is the former assistant Michigan Senate majority leader and current Oakland County sheriff. Bouchard said he was proud that after leaving the senate, Michigan was ranked one of the best places to do business. He also  wrote the real estate transfer tax cut that he said has saved Michigan residents billions in tax dollars. Bouchard said that he wanted to protect communities from crime, focus on jobs for future generations and cut tax dollars.

Some of Cox’s initiatives included cutting taxes and spending, fighting ObamaCare, bringing immigration reform to Michigan, encouraging clean coal and nuclear plants, incentivizing home health care,  keeping people out of the hospital and healing at home; provide regulatory relief to farmers and eliminating income tax on graduates of Michigan colleges.

“I didn’t win what I was looking for but I won an awful lot. (It’s) something that I will never forget,” Cox said.