Though Michigan’s election results were certified years ago and have subsequently been backed up by more than 250 audits across the state since, all 12 GOP gubernatorial candidates have either stoked distrust around our democratic processes or committed to support legislation that will make it harder for all Michiganders to vote.
Like the rest of the crowded Republican field, out-of-touch millionaire Kevin Rinke has downplayed the violent insurrection and propped up election conspiracy theories, all to achieve his ultimate goal of dismantling the democratic process.
When explicitly asked during an interview if he was planning to “understate or diminish what happened on January 6th…to court the former president’s endorsement,” Rinke refused to qualify the violent attempt to overturn the 2020 election as an insurrection, referring to it as a “Trump rally” instead.
And between his issues page and intro ad, Rinke made the baseless claim that “2020 election was rife with administrative problems, leading to a tainted election,” cited unsubstantiated “voter fraud,” and pledged to “audit the voter rolls” – an extreme step that even the most vocal candidates on this issue like Garrett Soldano and Ryan Kelley have yet to take in their crusade to undermine public trust in the electoral process and limit Michiganders’ freedom to participate in democracy.
Rinke has also refused to acknowledge the fact that the Republican-led Senate Oversight Committee released a 55-page report definitively stating that there was “no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud.” Presented by Committee Chair Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan), the report additionally referred to the 2020 crusade as “a nationwide conspiracy to steal the election” in which its supporters “place all other statements and actions they make in a position of zero credibility.”
MDP spokesperson Rodericka Applewhaite issued the following statement:
“Even though it’s been months since he joined the crowded Republican gubernatorial primary, Kevin Rinke has failed to offer Michigan working families any solutions for the issues they care about because he’s too busy endlessly relitigating an election that has already been audited hundreds of times. What’s worse, Rinke has pledged to implement some of the most extreme anti-democracy provisions out there, all but ensuring Michiganders get purged from voter rolls in droves. Michiganders can’t afford leadership that denies their rights to push a dangerous and backwards agenda.”
