DETROIT — Two Michigan Republicans who lost their primary races by more than 10 percentage points declared on social media Wednesday that they were "not conceding" while make dubious claims of election day wrongdoing.
Real estate broker Ryan Kelley, who finished in fourth place in Michigan's GOP primary race for governor and was 25 percentage points behind the winner, Tudor Dixon, was the first candidate to question the results. The Allendale man posted a statement at about 1:24 a.m. on some of his social media platforms. Then, at about 5 a.m., he released the same message on his official Facebook page.
Then, at about 1:30 p.m., Michigan Senate candidate Mike Detmer of Howell, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, posted that he was "not buying" the results of the election. Detmer lost his race to incumbent Sen. Lana Theis, a Brighton Republican, by about 16 percentage points, according to unofficial election results.
