Thomas J. Smith suspended his congressional campaign last month but is now projected to beat Amir Hassan, a rival backed by the president.
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Amir Hassan had significant advantages heading into Tuesday’s Republican primary for Michigan’s 8th Congressional District: President Donald Trump had endorsed him in June and rallied with him last week, touting the Navy veteran as a “BIG HIT” with the momentum to flip a key battleground seat.
In addition, one of Hassan’s two opponents, Thomas J. Smith, had suspended his campaign in mid-July. Smith did not formally withdraw from the race, and his name remained on the ballot. But he told Republicans to vote for someone else — the third candidate, Al Lemmo.
And yet Hassan is projected to lose the GOP primary to the person who dropped out, with preliminary results showing Hassan trailing Smith by more than 17 percentage points, according to the Associated Press.
“I fell short last night. I make no excuse. It was a tough race,” Hassan said in a video Wednesday morning in which he encouraged people to “Flip the 8th” but did not mention Smith by name.
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Meanwhile, Smith, a retired General Motors engineer and small-business owner, has said he will reenter the race to face Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D) in the general election.
“I look forward to working with Speaker [Mike] Johnson and the entire Republican team to expand our House majority and advance President Trump’s America First agenda to lower costs for working families and make America affordable again,” Smith told Politico in a statement.
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