Ryan Kelley, a Republican running in Michigan's gubernatorial race who was recently indicted on federal misdemeanor charges for his participation in the January 6 insurrection, is refusing to concede the GOP primary despite finishing in fourth place.
Writing on Facebook, Kelley suggested that voting machines had been tampered with and that the results were simply "a release of their preferred and predetermined outcome."
Insisting that he would not concede, Kelley demanded that "the GOP and the predetermined winner call for a publicly supervised hand recount to uphold election integrity.”
Kelley lost the primary to new GOP gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon after coming in fourth place in Tuesday’s election. Dixon won the Republican gubernatorial primary with over 40 percent of the vote. Dixon's closest rival, businessman Kevin Rinke, received just 21 percent of the vote.
Kelley only received about 15 percent of the vote in a five-way primary and has been posting falsified poll results lifted from former President Donald Trump's social media platform Truth Social to bolster his case.
Ahead of the primary, Kelley called on his followers to not be manipulated by "FAKE mainstream polls aimed to create a predetermined outcome."
Kelley's behavior has opened him up to significant criticism and mockery online.
\u201cThe insurrectionist, Ryan Kelley,running for Governor in Michigan, came in 4th & he refuses to concede!\ud83e\udd23 Michigan GOP, How you going to handle this one?? I demand a recount!\ud83d\ude02#Michigan\u201d— Cat K (@Cat K) 1659557641
\u201cGet a grip Ryan Kelley\u201d— Freck Hundrednaire (@Freck Hundrednaire) 1659547697
\u201cRepublicans are now attacking their OWN VOTERS with election conspiracy lies when they lose. Kari Lake, another far, far right extremist is also pulling this.\u201d— Allison Anderman \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Allison Anderman \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1659549349
\u201cOmg this is going to be the @GOP plan going forward on every election these lose now isn\u2019t it \ud83d\ude44\ud83d\ude44\ud83d\ude44\ud83d\ude44\ud83d\ude44\u201d— Mitch Connor (@Mitch Connor) 1659550930
\u201cOh bother! Really? This election integrity issue is he's allowed to run at all.\u201d— Listening beyond the pale. (@Listening beyond the pale.) 1659552645
\u201cWhy was he allowed to run anyway???\u201d— Heather (@Heather) 1659572372
\u201cHe knows, that dog don't hunt anymore, but is trying it on just in case. Lock up the voting machines just in case some crazy gets his attention.\u201d— A.J. Restore the Rose Garden. (@A.J. Restore the Rose Garden.) 1659560340
\u201cThe only \u201celection integrity\u201d issue here is you refusing to concede.\u201d— Charlie T. (@Charlie T.) 1659582077
Dixon will challenge Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic incumbent in Michigan's gubernatorial election this November.
A former conservative commentator and actress, she has received former President Trump's endorsement and has regularly made headlines for promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 general election, which Trump continues to falsely assert he won.
Despite publicly pledging loyalty to Trump, Dixon has repeatedly dodged questions from reporters about whether or not she still believes that Trump won the election over Democratic President Joe Biden.
Dixon has also been backed by Trump's former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who wrote a letter to Trump asking him to support Dixon, whom DeVos termed "the only one who can stand toe to toe with" Whitmer.
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