Corrupt Wayne County (MI) going down in flames in tonight's primary.

An ongoing grand jury probe of county government, which netted four guilty pleas and one conviction on corruption related charges, made Ficano’s name toxic in voters’ mind.

On Tuesday, they rendered their verdict, giving Ficano just 6% of the vote in an 11-person primary race with 72% of precincts reporting. In heavily Democratic Wayne County, Warren Evans held a commanding lead. The winner of the primary is expected to breeze through November’s general election.

The scandals tarnished a run of election victories stretching to 1984 and some policy successes, including the expansion of Cobo Center and converting to a regional authority. Ficano also is credited with standing up for autoworkers by supporting the 2008 government bailout of General Motors and Chrysler, even buying TV advertisements in the home state of senators who opposed the plan.

Ficano was a man who was sometimes mentioned as gubernatorial material. Now he will spend the last five months of his political career a lame duck. In appearances before the election, Ficano repeatedly used the word betrayed to describe his predicament.

http://www.freep.com/article/20140806/NEWS02/308060075/Scandals-derail-30-year-political-career-Wayne-County-s-Ficano