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A crowded field of Republican gubernatorial candidates in Michigan are vying for the party’s nomination to take on current Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the November election.
A record 10 candidates have filed petitions with the state seeking to win August’s Republican gubernatorial primary— the most from any one party in the history of Michigan elections, according to The Epoch Times.
Republicans have much maligned Whitmer for her onerous pandemic era lockdowns and controversial handling of nursing home patients. The Whitmer administration, wrought with scandal in 2020, undercounted nursing home deaths due to Covid. Similar allegations were levied against disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other radical Democrats.
Those Republican candidates vying to challenge Whitmer represent a wide swath of the population, including a car dealer, a pastor, a Michigan State Police captain, a news anchor, and a radio host.
Within the field of Republican candidates is former Detroit Police Chief James Craig. He first rose to national prominence during the summer riots of 2020, in which Craig was widely praised for enforcing the law, which led to fewer violent outbursts on the scale seen in several other large cities.
Conservative activist Ryan Kelley has called for election integrity reform and has vowed to replace voting machines used during the 2020 election that he believes was stolen from President Trump. Kelley has been a vocal critic of Whitmer’s Covid lockdowns and has spoken out at public protests against her actions during the pandemic.
Kelly has also spoken at a “Stop the Steal” demonstration at the Michigan Capitol. He stated, “there are so many questions here that we need to get rid of these machines. We need to forge a new way. Maybe, there are electronics involved. But there needs to be a process in place for auditing them.”
The Michigan Republican primary will be held on Aug. 2.
