FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
January 31, 2022
Contact: Sam Inglot, 616-916-0574, sam@progressmichigan.org
MI GOP Must Denounce Rhetoric Calling for Election Sabotage and Violence
Republican leadership cannot ignore Mike Detmer and Ryan Kelley
MICHIGAN – Progress Michigan is calling on the Michigan Republican Party to denounce Republican activists Mike Detmer and Ryan Kelley who are calling for sabotage of future elections and armed intimidation at election locations.
In a video circulating on Twitter and posted to Facebook, Ryan Kelley says Republican poll workers and election monitors should tamper with voting machines. Shortly after in the clip, Mike Detmer says Republicans need to show up to election locations armed as some form of intimidation to poll works.
“Encouraging armed intimidation and election tampering is abhorrent and unacceptable behavior from anyone, but especially from candidates for public office,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. “If the Republican Party wants us to believe they aren’t embracing the extremists in their party, they must condemn this type of rhetoric and the people who recklessly choose to spout it. Anything less than full-throated and continued condemnation of these acts is proof the Republican Party is willing to sacrifice anything to hang onto power, including the safety of our voters and the sanctity of our democracy.”
###