GOP Michigan candidates still claim Trump won 2020 election

Two Republicans running for Michigan governor are still claiming the 2020 election was stolen from President Donald Trump.

The Midland Daily News reports that Rep. John James and state Sen. Aric Nesbitt told voters during an April 13 event that Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson “put her thumb on the scale” to help President Joe Biden win in 2020. Benson is a Democratic candidate for governor.

Nesbitt flat-out said, “Trump won Michigan” in 2020. James, who ran for the U.S. Senate that year, went a step further, implying the election was stolen from him as well.

“Who here believes that Jocelyn Benson … screwed Trump in 2020?” James said. “Who here believes the president won in 2020? All right, well, if you do, I outperformed President Trump in 2020, and there are five judges that agree with you that Jocelyn Benson had her thumb on the scale in 2020.”

Biden defeated Trump in Michigan by more than 154,000 votes. Sen. Gary Peters beat James by 92,000 votes.

Trump has persistently claimed that his 2020 loss was the result of electioneering and rampant voter fraud. Multiple lawsuits and independent analyses have debunked these claims.

In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Trump targeted Benson, claiming her support for mail-in voting made her “a rogue Secretary of State.” This inspired armed, pro-Trump demonstrators to gather outside Benson’s home and chant threatening remarks.

“The individuals gathered outside my home targeted me as Michigan’s chief election officer,” Benson wrote on X at the time. “But their threats were actually aimed at the 5.5 million Michigan citizens who voted in this fall’s election, seeking to overturn their will. They will not succeed in doing so.”

James and Nesbitt will face off in an Aug. 4 primary.