{"id":6808,"date":"2026-08-05T21:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T21:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=6808"},"modified":"2026-08-05T21:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T21:00:09","slug":"republican-who-withdrew-last-month-beats-trump-backed-rival-in-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=6808","title":{"rendered":"Republican who withdrew last month beats Trump-backed rival in Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-14sl0e4\">\n<div class=\"dcr-17l77cs\">\n<figure id=\"fa02ff5f-73d5-4934-82bd-50bfdd255380\" class=\"dcr-191xnya\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"people voting \" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/a1b0771a26bd8912661bc0bb6c111ecd9dc9cae9\/0_0_4898_3265\/master\/4898.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"309.96835443037975\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><span class=\"dcr-kogzpx\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-18mnkpm\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1294qmb\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-4sl2vt\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1mfxiaj\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">People cast their ballots in Michigan on Tuesday.<\/span> Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-zwabc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"fa02ff5f-73d5-4934-82bd-50bfdd255380\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-1bitgpn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-1shbixy\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-qda0hp\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1e9iiy9\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">People cast their ballots in Michigan on Tuesday.<\/span> Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-ql9l8l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-6mja0y\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-l0wuod\">Republican who withdrew last month beats Trump-backed rival in Michigan<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1xpojbf\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1gm5ptv\">\n<p>Thomas Smith, whose name remained on ballot, beats Republican rivals in primary contest for eighth district<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-x1al2c\">\n<div class=\"dcr-11gq2tx\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-1w2vkyc\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-ogvvui\">\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Thomas Smith withdrew from the Republican primary contest for Michigan\u2019s eighth district last month. On Tuesday, he won the nomination.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Unofficial results show Smith with more than 50% of the vote, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/projects\/elections-2026\/michigan-primary-results-us-house\/#8\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">according to the Associated Press,<\/a> defeating the man he endorsed, anti-abortion activist Al Lemmo, and the man Donald Trump endorsed, former federal law enforcement officer Amir Hassan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In a statement on Wednesday, Smith said he was \u201chumbled and honored that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/republicans\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Republicans<\/a> have chosen me to take the fight to Kristen McDonald Rivet\u201d, the Democratic incumbent in the battleground House district.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cI look forward to working with Speaker [Mike] Johnson and the entire Republican team to expand our House majority and advance President Trump\u2019s \u2018America first\u2019 agenda to lower costs for working families and make America affordable again,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In June, Trump endorsed Hassan, an African American navy veteran who worked for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Transportation. The president also appeared with Hassan at a campaign event in Michigan. Hassan said during his campaign that he had recently converted to Christianity from Islam. Nonetheless, social media commentary suggests Republican voters did not view Hassan\u2019s conversion as authentic and were apprehensive about nominating a Muslim candidate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cIt was a tough race, but over the last year I\u2019ve had some incredible dealings with people across the entire district,\u201d Hassan said in a video posted to X and Facebook. \u201cThe biggest conservative value is that we don\u2019t make excuses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Smith, who did little campaigning, posted on social media in July to endorse Lemmo, describing Hassan as a crypto-Republican. In Michigan, a US House candidate must withdraw their candidacy before 24 April for election officials to have enough time to remove their name from ballots.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The Federal Election Commission has no electronic campaign finance filings from Smith. It does have a <a href=\"https:\/\/docquery.fec.gov\/pdf\/094\/202607210300532094\/202607210300532094.pdf\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">handwritten letter<\/a> dated 12 July declaring $1,850 in fundraising.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cI could not file this electronically because I have had no success logging in and have not been able to get a response from the helpdesk,\u201d Smith wrote in a postscript on the letter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The Flint native and retired General Motors engineer made a brief appearance at a Republican unity event hosted in Macomb county by the party\u2019s newly minted US Senate candidate Mike Rogers. Smith said he intended to \u201cunseat communist comrade Rivet\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Though the victory on Tuesday of Abdul El-Sayed in the Democratic Senate primary has drawn national attention to progressive politics in Michigan, Rivet has signaled her relative moderation as one of 10 House Democrats to join Promise to America, a congressional initiative led by US representatives Tom Suozzi of New York and Adam Gray of California explicitly embracing capitalism and rejecting socialism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The congressional district along Michigan\u2019s Saginaw River, connecting Flint to the Saginaw Bay, was one of 13 districts nationwide that voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election while also electing a Democratic representative to Congress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-swayiu\"><span class=\"dcr-1xhbmzr\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-2c03t5\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-p7nd18\">\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/michigan\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Michigan<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/republicans\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Republicans<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/house-of-representatives\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">House of Representatives<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-congress\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">US Congress<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-politics\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">US politics<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-313bdz\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=Republican%20who%20withdrew%20last%20month%20beats%20Trump-backed%20rival%20in%20Michigan&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/aug\/05\/republican-trump-rival-michigan-primary?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-ncybeu\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-19bkree\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Faug%2F05%2Frepublican-trump-rival-michigan-primary&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/aug\/05\/republican-trump-rival-michigan-primary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-1c41onw\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1kq7f60\"><span class=\"dcr-1ryr20k\"><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>People cast their ballots in Michigan on Tuesday. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images View image in fullscreen People cast their<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6811,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6808\/revisions\/6811"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}