Conyers looks vulnerable in 2010 reelection poll

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) could face a tough reelection race in 2010, according to a new, independent poll released this weekend.

40 percent of Conyers’s constituents said he deserved reelection, according to a poll conducted earlier this month by the Lansing, Mich.-based Deno Noor Polling, in conjunction with the Rossman Group and Perricone Group.

44 percent of Detroiters represented by Conyers said they would prefer to elect someone else. 15 percent were unsure or didn’t know.

The 80-year-old Conyers has served in Congress since 1965, making him one of the longest-serving members of Congress still in office. He could face a challenging reelection, though, due to the conviction of his wife, Monica Conyers, for bribery charges incurred while she served as President Pro Tempore of the Detroit City Council.

Rep. Conyers has dodged questions about his wife’s conviction, and it isn’t clear whether the couple has maintained a close relationship in recent years.

Still, 76 percent of those surveyed said the conduct of Monica Conyers wouldn’t affect how they would vote for her powerful husband.

Another Detroit lawmaker’s political future could be imperiled by a family member’s illicit political conduct, as well.

27 percent of Detroiters said Rep. Carolyn Cheek Kilpatrick (D-Mich.) deserves reelection almost a year after she was almost unseated in a Democratic primary challenge.

58 percent said that someone else should replace Kilpatrick, with 14 percent undecided.

Kilpatrick won a hotly-contested three-way primary last August with 39 percent of the vote after her son, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, was forced from office after pleading guilty to charges stemming from his testimony denying an extramarital affair to which he later admitted.

60 percent of Detroiters said the former mayor’s conduct would have no bearing on their vote for Kilpatrick, who’s served in Congress since being elected in 1996.