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One thing about being an overnight sensation: It often ends in overnight irrelevance.
James Craig in Jackson in July 2021 (File photo)
It's hard to know what went sour for James Craig, the former Detroit Police chief who, just one year ago, was the shoo-in, management-approved, de facto frontrunner for the GOP nomination for governor. Then came the disastrous campaign launch on Belle Isle, followed by disruption in the management ranks, the fraudulent-signatures scandal and other missteps we won't bother to list here, culminating in a humiliating write-in loss to...pretty much everybody else in the field.
The loss was so thorough, in fact, that even Craig doesn't know how many votes he received, but it was well behind Ralph Rebandt, the next-closest finisher.
And now Craig is throwing whatever influence he might have had to the wind, telling Hour Detroit that he doesn't support the GOP nominee, Tudor Dixon, and in fact blames her in part for his flame-out:
Craig remains angry about how his campaign ended and says he believes Dixon’s campaign had a hand in it. Michigan Strong PAC, a conservative group supporting Dixon, filed one of the two challenges to his signatures that prompted the inspections. “Whether she knew or didn’t know, that was her campaign that had some knowledge of something going on, and so there were shenanigans involved,” he says. “What, I just don’t know yet. And I’m hoping I get to the truth.”
Craig said he had no interest in being anyone's running mate -- no chance of that, as Dixon's choice is former state Rep. Shane Hernandez -- and what's more, told The Detroit News today that he'd back the U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate, Donna Brandenburg, over Dixon:
"I would give her my support before giving it to Tudor."
Brandenburg, a fellow non-qualifier for the gubernatorial ballot, is running with fellow stop-the-stealer Mellissa Carone.
