Pam Byrnes

Pam Byrnes (born June 25, 1947) is a former Democratic State Representative in the Michigan State House of Representatives, representing the 52nd District which covers parts of Washtenaw County. On July 18, 2013, Pam Byrnes announced that she will run as a Democratic candidate to challenge Republican Representative Tim Walberg in Michigan's 7th congressional district.

Career

Byrnes is a lawyer and small business owner, and lives on a small farm outside of Chelsea, Michigan with her husband, Kent Brown. She is the former director of Washtenaw County Friend of the Court. She served as the Executive Director of the University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute, a program that provides University of Michigan students and faculty a platform to engage in engineering education and research in an international setting, often collaborating with Michigan businesses, such as General Motors and TRW Automotive.

State legislative career

Byrnes was elected to the State House in 2004, beating Republican Joe Yekulis by over 5000 votes. She competed with Yekulis for the section of western Washtenaw County that he had represented on the County Commission for the past decade. In 2006, Byrnes was the lone Democrat running for State Representative in the district. She faced Republican Shannon Brown in the general election, and she was reelected by over 11000 votes. Byrnes ran for re-election to the State House for the final time in November 2008, due to Michigan term limits. Byrnes' Republican opponent was Eric Lielbriedis, of Saline. She was reelected with over 62% of the vote, and a margin of over 16000 votes. While in the House, Byrnes served as House Speaker Pro Tempore.