John James taps Rep. Jay DeBoyer as running mate in Michigan governor’s race
Michigan GOP gubernatorial nominee John James wants state Rep. Jay DeBoyer to be his running mate in the Nov. 3 general election. Photo credit: House GOP/AP photos.
DeBoyer, R-Clay Township, was first elected to the state House in 2022 and previously served as the St. Clair County elections clerk. He currently chairs the House Oversight Committee and serves as associate speaker pro tempore.
“I am choosing Jay DeBoyer as my running mate because he has run a business, served in local government, and overseen elections,” James said in a statement. “He knows how to work with both parties in the Legislature to get things done.”
If DeBoyer is nominated by delegates, it would mark the first time since 1978 the Michigan Republican Party will not have a female candidate at the top of the statewide ticket, according to MIRS subscription news service.
He’d join James, Attorney General nominee Doug Lloyd and Secretary of State nominee Anthony Forlini on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. Like James, DeBoyer currently represents parts of southeast Michigan.
In social media statement, DeBoyer said he was “humbled and honored” to be selected.
“Michiganders face a clear choice between socialism and a bold new direction rooted in freedom, opportunity, and prosperity,” DeBoyer said. “John is the right leader to win this fight.”
DeBoyer has repeatedly clashed with James’ opponent — Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee — as chair of the House Oversight Committee.
Last year, he subpoenaed and later sued Benson for election training materials and led a hearing on the troubled rollout of a new government disclosure transparency portal.
As lieutenant governor, he will “lead the fight against corruption, fraud, waste, and abuse, protecting core services while fixing what’s broken,” James said.
Andrea Bitely, a strategist who worked for independent gubernatorial candidate Mike Duggan, said DeBoyer’s relatively visible work on the oversight committee will help assuage any misgivings with the GOP grassroots, who have challenged running mate picks in the past.
“I think John James is going to let Jay DeBoyer do more of the attacking, so that he himself is not directly attacking Benson, which is a good strategy,” Bitely said. “I would anticipate that’s some of what we see, is this shift to Jay DeBoyer being the bully.”
Bitely viewed the pick as one focused on governance, not electoral advantage.
“This pick for John James gives him something that he’s lacking, and that is Lansing legislative experience,” Bitely said.
As a legislator, DeBoyer has sponsored three new laws, including a measure to relax earned sick time rules as part of a bipartisan deal negotiated by legislative leadership and the Whitmer administration.
He cosponsored GOP proposals to toughen voter ID laws, restrict student bathroom use at schools based on biological sex and allow the governor to appoint the state superintendent, a change James has called for.
“Running mates don’t really, whether it’s for vice president or lieutenant governor, ever bring votes to the ticket, but they can cost the ticket votes,” said Dennis Lennox, a Republican political commentator and consultant. “This is a very safe pick.”
Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel panned James for picking DeBoyer, calling it an effort “to pick the most MAGA candidate possible.”
“A James-DeBoyer administration would be a rubber stamp for Trump’s agenda,” Hertel said. “…Michigan Democrats look forward to defeating this extreme Republican ticket in November.”
DeBoyer graduated from Algonac High School in 1988 and attended St. Clair County Community College from 1989 to 1990. In addition to his time as clerk, he has also owned a small business specializing in engineered lumber since 1994.
While lieutenant governor candidates appear their running mates at the top of voter’s ballots, political observers tend to downplay their impact on the elections themselves.
Republican Party delegates will officially nominate a candidate for lieutenant governor at an Aug. 22 convention in Mount Pleasant.
Once that is made official, DeBoyer will have to withdraw from seeking reelection in the 63rd state house district, where he recently won the nomination uncontested.
Under state election law, his replacement for the November election will be selected by a body of county Republican party officials that comprise his district, which straddles southern St. Clair County and northern Macomb County.
Lennox believes things could get interesting.
“Election law prescribes that the committees choose a replacement nominee, but it doesn’t prescribe how they do it,” he said, noting DeBoyer could be permitted to hand-pick his replacement if the committee allows it. In the heavily Republican district, the nominee’s election in November is almost guaranteed.
Like Lieutenant governor, “this is actually one of the rare moments in Michigan when it’s sort of a throwback to an earlier era of how parties used to decide nominees,” Lennox added.
This article first appeared on Bridge Michigan and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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