LANSING — Appearing on stage with Donald Trump yesterday in Milford, two-time statewide loser John James once again spewed Trump’s disproven conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
It’s the latest instance of James recently questioning the 2020 election—even after he said in a 2022 interview with PBS that Joe Biden was duly elected.
As he now runs for governor, James has said that he was “screwed” in his 2020 Senate loss and vowed “consequences” if he’s elected. One day after receiving Trump’s endorsement in June, James said during a podcast that the 2020 election was “rigged and manipulated” against him and Trump.
On the debate stage earlier this month, James attacked his fellow Republican candidates for not going as far as he did to deny the results of the 2020 election.
“Desperate to talk about anything other than his votes for Donald Trump’s price-hiking policies that have squeezed Michigan families, John James has decided to put Trump’s election conspiracy theories front and center in his campaign for governor,” said Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Derrick Honeyman. “Every time James parrots Trump’s lies, it’s just another sign that he’s too extreme to lead Michigan.”
See a roundup of James getting fact-checked after Trump’s speech:
Mediate: Rep. John James (R-MI), who’s currently running for governor of Michigan, parroted President Donald Trump’s false 2020 election claim during a rally at a General Motors plant on Monday.
The New York Times: And Representative John James, a Republican candidate in the state’s competitive race for governor, opened his remarks by repeating election falsehoods.
Bridge Michigan: The claim: “Thank you, Mr. President, for coming back to Michigan, where you’ve won three times,” said James, the Republican gubernatorial hopeful.
The facts: Biden officially won Michigan by 154,188 votes in 2020. A Republican-led investigation found no evidence of widespread fraud. Asked by PBS in 2022 whether Biden had been duly elected, James was definitive: “Of course. Yes. That’s how the process works.” He has more recently claimed the election was rigged.
MLive: During Trump’s speech, James at one point reiterated claims that the president won the state “three times,” referring to allegations of voter fraud during the 2020 election.
To date, no legal challenge or legislative inquiry has substantiated claims of widespread fraud in Michigan, and a Republican-led investigation in the state “found no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud.”
In at least one previous interview back in 2022, James told PBS he believed Biden had been duly elected.
Spectrum News: But John James, a current congressman and GOP candidate for Michigan governor, lied at Trump’s event this afternoon and said the president “won three times.”
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