LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called a special election Friday for a state Senate seat that has been vacant for nearly nine months, setting up a contest that could let Republicans hobble Whitmer’s agenda in the Democrat’s final year in office.

The 35th Senate District has been unrepresented in the Legislature all year after its former lawmaker, Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November. Democrats now hold a slim 19-18 majority in the chamber, and a GOP victory could give Republicans the ability to block Democratic policy in Whitmer’s last months as governor, since she is term limited and cannot run again.

Republicans have repeatedly slammed Whitmer, who has the sole power to call an election to fill the seat, for

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