Michigan: Election Denial in Races for Election Administration Positions

View the entire Election Denial in Races for Election Administration Positions series

Below, we compile quotes from campaigns’ ads, websites, social media posts, and statements reported in the media that illustrate endorsement or opposition to election denial — claims that the process or result of the last presidential election was illegitimate. Each of the candidates is running for an office that will play a role in administering future elections in Michigan. Information about the financing of these campaigns and those in other battleground states can be found here.

Governor

Donna Brandenburg (disqualified)

The gubernatorial campaign website of business owner Donna Brandenburg (R) says, “There are more anomalies to the 2020 election than any election in the history of the United States. . . . The overwhelming evidence of interference and fraud . . . is a disregard of your voice and your rights.” She calls for a “Full Forensic Audit” and claims there is evidence of, among other things, “Ballots cast by deceased voters,” “Ineligible ballots counted multiple times,” and “78% of mail-in ballots proven fraudulent.” A post on her campaign Facebook page says, “The overthrow of the 2020 election was the last straw for every American who voted.”

Tudor Dixon (won primary)

Media personality Tudor Dixon (R) has offered inconsistent answers when asked whether Trump won the 2020 election. At a debate in May when asked if Trump won the state of Michigan, she responded, “yes.” After a debate in July, she said it’s impossible to know the outcome of the election and claimed: “I don’t think we can see enough of the evidence because we weren’t able to look back and some of that is destroyed now.” In an appearance on Fox News in July, she dodged the question and instead criticized Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state.

Ryan Kelley (lost primary)

Busi­­ness owner Ryan Kelley (R) has said that the elec­­tion was “stolen” and called for lawmakers to “decer­­­tify” it. At a July debate, Kelley repeated this belief, explicitly saying he thought the 2020 election was stolen and citing parts of “2,000 Mules,” a movie claiming large numbers of people put false ballots in drop boxes. In remarks at a Janu­ary 2022 meet­ing where he encour­aged support­ers to sign up to serve as poll work­ers, Kelley said, “if you see some­th­ing you don’t like happen­ing with the [voting] machines . . . unplug it from the wall.” His campaign website features a state­ment that char­ac­ter­­­izes the 2020 elec­­tion in Michigan as “the most fraud­u­lent elec­­tion in Amer­ican history” and calls on the legis­lature “to DECER­­­TIFY the 2020 elec­­tion results in the state of Michigan until a full forensic audit.”

Ralph Rebandt (lost primary)

When Pastor Ralph Rebandt (R) was asked whether voter fraud reversed the results of the 2020 election, he answered “yes,” describing his observations of Republican observers not being allowed to enter areas where votes were being counted and claiming there was “voter fraud” and “chain of custody breakdowns.” He called for a “full forensic audit” and promised that, as governor he will ensure there will never be “another stolen election.”

Garrett Soldano (lost primary)

At a July debate, chiropractor Garrett Soldano (R) explicitly said he thought the 2020 election was stolen and cited parts of “2,000 Mules,” a movie claiming large numbers of people put false ballots in drop boxes. On his Face­book page, which he is using to campaign for governor, Soldano shared a story head­lined “26,000 Dead People Still Registered to Vote in Michigan.” He wrote in the post: “This is why we need a FULL FORENSIC AUDIT of the 2020 elec­tion!” A post on the campaign’s Face­book page called for an audit “to ensure that this can NEVER happen again,” without specify­ing exactly what happened.

Secretary of State

Jocelyn Benson (nominated by party)

Secret­ary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) has defen­ded her office’s hand­ling of the 2020 elec­tion. In late March, Benson said she has been “fighting election-deniers, some of whom now want to take over statewide offices so they can potentially be in a position to block or undo or fail to certify election results.” Benson has tweeted, “Democracy is on the ballot,” and that “Michigan is ground zero in the battle over the future of democracy.” In a May 2021 inter­view, she discussed her concern about efforts to “propag­ate the ‘big lie,’ propag­ate this idea, this false­hood that the elec­tion was anything but safe and secure. . . But it’s also all going to culmin­ate, I believe, in an effort to try again in 2024 what those demo­cracy deniers attemp­ted to do in 2020 but failed."

Kristina Karamo (nominated by party)

The Michigan Republican Party has endorsed Kristina Karamo, who has ques­tioned the 2020 elec­tion and run ads saying Repub­lic­ans need to “secure our elec­tions” because “the road to the White House runs directly through Michigan.” In a May inter­view discuss­ing her claims of voter fraud, she said there is “massive corrup­tion” and “a massive coverup.” Karamo was a featured speaker at an April 2 rally in Michigan where Donald Trump spoke about his claim the elec­tion “was rigged and stolen.” Karamo told the audi­ence if she is elec­ted she would make sure “your vote isn’t nulli­fied by illegal ballots.” She has argued that elec­tion irreg­u­lar­it­ies were left unad­dressed in 2020, and that Secret­ary of State Benson did not conduct an adequate audit. She attem­p­ted to inter­­vene in support of Texas Attor­ney General Ken Paxton’s request that the Supreme Court block Michigan and other states’ Elect­oral College votes from being coun­­ted.