President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate in mid-Michigan, Republican Amir Hassan of Flint, was trailing in early returns Tuesday night for the GOP primary election in one of mid-Michigan’s most competitive seats, behind a candidate who dropped out of the contest last month.
Hassan had 29% to Thomas J. Smith’s 41% and Al Lemmo’s 22%, according to early returns compiled by The Detroit News.
Smith, however, dropped out of the contest in mid-July and endorsed Lemmo, but he remained on the ballot.
On July 18, Smith posted a video on Facebook in which he donned a Lemmo for Congress hat and said he was “putting my full support behind Al Lemmo.”
Hassan, 40, of Flint was endorsed last month by Trump to represent Michigan’s 8th District, which covers the Tri Cities region. He’s also being supported and mentored by the House Republicans’ campaign arm.
The seat is held by first-term Democratic Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet of Bay City, who ran unopposed in Tuesday’s primary.
Hassan grew up in Flint, joined the Navy and then worked as a federal law enforcement officer for 11 years, including stints with the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and finally the Department of Transportation, he said. He moved back to Michigan to run for Congress last year.
Lemmo is an anti-abortion activist and retired mechanical engineer the U.S. Army’s Tank‑Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) in Warren. He’s suggested that Hassan is a “trojan horse” candidate who used to be a Democrat.
In the midterm elections, Republicans are targeting the 8th District, which both Trump and McDonald Rivet won in 2024. That year, McDonald Rivet, a former state senator, defeated Republican Paul Junge in November by more than 6.6 percentage points.
She has held a sizable fundraising advantage through the cycle, raising over $5.6 million through July 15 and reporting $4.25 million in cash reserves last month.
Hassan has raised about $727,350 and had just $104,500 in the bank as of mid-July.
