FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
April 28, 2026
Contact: Levi Teitel, levi@progressmichigan.org
Senate Candidate Jason Tunney May Have Lied To Obtain $8.9 Million PPP Loan
MICHIGAN — In April of 2020 Duro-Last, which was owned by the family of Jason Tunney, the Republican candidate for Senate District 25, received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for $8,930,292 –– $8,240,178 of which was later forgiven. This loan was in the top 0.1 percent of the largest loans made in the COVID-19 relief program – and was more than 88 times the size of the average PPP loan.
Duro-Last appears to have listed its employee headcount at exactly 500 in its application. 500 also happens to be the maximum number of workers that a business could employ and receive a PPP loan. However, Duro-Last’s Department of Labor Form 5500 covering 2020 showed that Duro-Last began the year with 713 active employees participating in its 401(k) and ended the year with 683 active employees enrolled in the 401(k).
In response to this news, Justin Mendoza, executive director of Progress Michigan, filed a complaint with the Small Business Association and issued the following statement:
“As people cast their ballot for the special election in SD-35, they deserve to know whether or not the family company where Jason Tunney was an executive received a fraudulent PPP loan. If the Small Business Administration finds that Duro-Last did in fact lie on its PPP loan application, this would directly call into question Tunney’s ability to serve Bay area residents in the state senate. Lying by the Tunney family company in order to receive millions in taxpayer money is shocking as it is deceitful.
“Let’s be clear: At the time of the PPP loan application, Jason Tunney was general counsel and executive vice president of Duro-Last. It is nearly inconceivable to think he would have been unaware of this application and the requirements of the loan, including the cap on the number of employees.
“This kind of waste, fraud and abuse has absolutely no place in Michigan. Voters in SD-35 need to know about the kind of candidate that Jason Tunney is and whether he was a top executive at a family company that wrongfully applied for and received a PPP loan.”
A link to the complaint can be found here.
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