Not a great look for the "Republicans aren't racist" crowd.

[Seattle or Bust]

In Michigan's 8th Congressional District, Candidate Tom Smith defeated candidate Amir Hassan in the Republican primary race for a chance to take on Kristen Rivet for the Congressional seat.

The only kicker? Tom Smith, a candidate with $2,000 raised and less than 100 followers on the Facebook page for his campaign, had WITHDRAWN from the race via a video on Facebook posted on July 15th due to what he perceived as not enough support to continue.

Hassan, a black, Navy veteran, and former Muslim turned Christian, who had disavowed the Muslim religion and was forced to post videos online explaining that he is "not an immigrant" and that his family "had been in the US for hundreds of years," was endorsed by both Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson. Trump had invited Hassan on stage at a rally on July 27th to endorse his candidacy. He was of course chosen as a token candidate meant to represent that minorities can disavow leftist extremism and join the righteous side .

On a Trump Truth Social post endorsing the candidate, comments... such as this one by "JoniMarieforLiberty" said, ”“YOU ARE BEING MISLED, President Trump! This guy is a snake in the grass. Muslim and never voted for a republican in his whole life. Moved to Michigan last summer and immediately filed to run for office. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!” Another commenter named "Billie" wrote, “his name gives me pause. Call me racist, but I am merely being cautious. Obama comes to mind."

It didn't matter that Hassan's own campaign literature says Jesus Christ is his Lord and Savior. The mob had already decided that a name and a former religion were enough to disqualify him.

Republicans in Michigan literally voted for a man on a ballot who had dropped out of the race because the name "Tom Smith" looked white and "Amir Hassan" looked Muslim.

Nice job.

[gil]

In Michigan's 8th Congressional District, Candidate Tom Smith defeated candidate Amir Hassan in the Republican primary race for a chance to take on Kristen Rivet for the Congressional seat.

The only kicker? Tom Smith, a candidate with $2,000 raised and less than 100 followers on the Facebook page for his campaign, had WITHDRAWN from the race via a video on Facebook posted on July 15th due to what he perceived as not enough support to continue.

Hassan, a black, Navy veteran, and former Muslim turned Christian, who had disavowed the Muslim religion and was forced to post videos online explaining that he is "not an immigrant" and that his family "had been in the US for hundreds of years," was endorsed by both Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson. Trump had invited Hassan on stage at a rally on July 27th to endorse his candidacy. He was of course chosen as a token candidate meant to represent that minorities can disavow leftist extremism and join the righteous side .

On a Trump Truth Social post endorsing the candidate, comments... such as this one by "JoniMarieforLiberty" said, ”“YOU ARE BEING MISLED, President Trump! This guy is a snake in the grass. Muslim and never voted for a republican in his whole life. Moved to Michigan last summer and immediately filed to run for office. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!” Another commenter named "Billie" wrote, “his name gives me pause. Call me racist, but I am merely being cautious. Obama comes to mind."

It didn't matter that Hassan's own campaign literature says Jesus Christ is his Lord and Savior. The mob had already decided that a name and a former religion were enough to disqualify him.

Republicans in Michigan literally voted for a man on a ballot who had dropped out of the race because the name "Tom Smith" looked white and "Amir Hassan" looked Muslim.

Nice job.

Interesting to see two new posts about elections.

This is pretty much a "toss up district". Trump won it in 2024, but a Democrats was elected to the House at the same time. My alternative explanation is that many voters did not know that Smith had dropped out, and then compared the candidates and Smith looked like the more conservative of the two. Being more conservative tends to win Republican primaries. I glanced at his Facebook page and his website, and Smith definitely is hard right.

I am surprised that Trump's endorsement didn't carry the day. Trump used to have a much better record on his candidates winning.