Snyder gives his acceptance speech in Detroit. Photo: Natasha Dado

DETROIT — Addressing supporters after winning reelection, Gov. Rick Snyder touted his administration’s work throughout his first term and stressed this is only the beginning of what it will accomplish. 

“When you have success like this, what is the next thing you need to do?” Snyder asked, rhetorically, at an election night gathering for key members of his administration Tuesday night at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center. “It is not to stay where you are. It is not to stay complacent. It is time to accelerate and go even faster and get more done.” 

Other state Republicans, including Attorney General Bill Schuette and Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, celebrated their victories with Snyder at the gathering which hundreds attended. Michigan Supreme Court Justices Brian Zahra and David Viviano were also present and thanked supporters after their victories. 

Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Terri Lynn Land, who was defeated by Democratic Congressman Gary Peters, was spotted at the gathering, but did not thank supporters. 

Snyder credited his administration for Detroit’s recovery and comeback. He said that in his first term nearly 300,000 private sector jobs were created. 

“When I went to new governor’s school, and there is such a thing, believe it or not, they gave me a forecast of what they believed would be Michigan’s future through 2014,” Snyder said. “We were expected to stay at 50 out of 50 (states) in terms of job creation.” 

He said more college graduates are staying in Michigan after graduation then was the case four years ago.  

The governor also said a recent report showed there have been positive changes in terms of the increases in home values throughout the state. 

Michigan State University Trustee Jeff Sakwa said Snyder never gave up on Detroit when everybody else did. 

For his part, Schuette talked about his fight to save Detroit’s pensions and to help rape victims get the justice they deserve. 

“This election is all about Michigan’s tomorrows,” Schuette said. “The tomorrows for our daughters. The tomorrows for our sons. And I am an optimist and I am confident to believe that Michigan’s best tomorrows are just ahead. They are just around the corner, and Michigan is safer and stronger today then it was four years ago. Together, we can continue to build a new Michigan and keep Michigan stronger and safer for the many tomorrows we have to come.” 

Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley said Snyder has kept the promises he made when he was first elected. 

“He said what he was going to do and he did what he said,” Calley said. “He said we needed to get our fiscal house in order and we balanced the budget. He said we needed to reduce the debt. We reduced the debt. He said we needed to save for the future, and we saved for the future.  He said we need to create a better environment for job growth in our state and we eliminated the Michigan businesses tax. He said we needed to create a different type of future in our state for our kids and he increased education funding by a billion dollars.”

“It wasn’t going to be east vs. west anymore,” he said. “It wasn’t going to be Republican vs. Democrat. It wasn’t going to be urban vs. rural. It wasn’t going to be Detroit vs. the rest of the state. It was going to be a family called Michigan that would work together, that would take on the hardest problems and solve them with guts and determination.”

Republicans will keep their supermajority in the State Senate, and are still the majority in the state house. 

“Our spirit was being broken,” Snyder said of the state’s condition when he was first elected. “It was not time to fix Michigan. That was not going to be good enough. It was time for us to recognize a new path. It was time to reinvent Michigan and that is what we have been doing. We have been reinventing Michigan by showing (that) fighting and blame are not the answer. The answer is to be positive, to solve problems. To work together. To move forward and it has been working.”