Smith wins Michigan GOP primary after suspending campaign

Thomas Smith, a little-known Republican who raised $1,850 and had announced he was suspending his campaign, won the GOP nomination Tuesday for a Michigan congressional seat that Republicans hope to flip this fall.

NBC News projected Smith defeated Amir Hassan, the candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump, in the Republican primary for Michigan’s 8th Congressional District. With nearly all votes counted, Smith had 50% of the vote, Hassan had 33% and anti-abortion activist Al Lemmo had 16%. The Associated Press reported unofficial results showed Smith with more than 50% of the vote.

Smith will face Democratic Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet in November in a battleground district that Trump carried by 2 points in the 2024 presidential election. The district, along Michigan’s Saginaw River and connecting Flint to the Saginaw Bay, was one of 13 nationwide that voted for Trump in 2024 while also electing a Democrat to the U.S. House.

In a statement Wednesday, Smith said he was “humbled and honored that Republicans have chosen me to take the fight to Kristen McDonald Rivet.”

“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,” he added.

Smith had appeared to be a marginal presence in the primary. Local media reported he suspended his campaign in mid-July, and Lemmo posted a Facebook video showing Smith saying, “I am suspending my campaign and putting my full support behind Al Lemmo.” Smith also posted on social media in July to endorse Lemmo, describing Hassan as a crypto-Republican, The Guardian reported.

Michigan’s official candidate website did not list Smith as having withdrawn. In Michigan, a U.S. House candidate must withdraw before April 24 for election officials to have enough time to remove the candidate’s name from ballots.

Smith’s last campaign Facebook post came on July 15. His campaign did not immediately return an email seeking comment, NBC News reported.

His campaign finances were also unusual. The Federal Election Commission had no electronic campaign finance filings from Smith, but it did have a handwritten letter dated July 12 declaring $1,850 in fundraising through June 30. In a postscript, Smith wrote, “I could not file this electronically because I have had no success logging in and have not been able to get a response from the helpdesk.”

Smith, a Flint native and retired General Motors engineer, later opened a salsa company with one of his sons, a Marine veteran, according to his campaign website. He appeared briefly at a Republican unity event in Macomb County hosted by Mike Rogers, the party’s newly nominated U.S. Senate candidate, where The Guardian reported Smith said he intended to “unseat communist comrade Rivet.”

Trump endorsed Hassan in June and appeared with him at a campaign event in Michigan. Hassan is an African American Navy veteran and former federal law enforcement officer who worked for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Transportation. During the campaign, Hassan said he had recently converted to Christianity from Islam. The Guardian reported that social media commentary suggested some Republican voters did not view Hassan’s conversion as authentic and were apprehensive about nominating a Muslim candidate.

After his loss, Hassan posted a video to X and Facebook. “It was a tough race, but over the last year I’ve had some incredible dealings with people across the entire district,” he said. “The biggest conservative value is that we don’t make excuses.”

Rivet, the Democratic incumbent, has signaled a moderate profile. She is one of 10 House Democrats to join Promise to America, a congressional initiative led by Reps. Tom Suozzi of New York and Adam Gray of California that explicitly embraces capitalism and rejects socialism, The Guardian reported.