Thomas Smith dropped his Michigan House bid last month, but won the GOP primary anyway, beating Trump-backed opponent

Thomas Smith won Michigan’s 8th District GOP primary with just over 50% of the vote Tuesday, CBS News projected — even though he had suspended his campaign in mid-July. 

Perhaps even more surprisingly: Smith defeated Amir Hassan, who had received President Trump’s endorsement.  Mr. Trump even appeared at a campaign rally with Hassan and other Republican candidates in Milford, Michigan, a few days ago.

Smith, who says on his campaign website that he’s a salsa entrepreneur and retired General Motors engineer, struggled with fundraising. In a handwritten letter to the FEC on July 12, he disclosed that he had only raised $1,850 through June 30.

He also appeared to struggle with the FEC’s technology, adding in a postscript, “I could not file this form electronically because I have had no success logging in and have not been able to get a response from the help desk.”

Upon withdrawing from the race, Smith issued a video endorsement for Al Lemmo. Lemmo finished third, behind Hassan.

He has revived his campaign and said in a statement to the Detroit News, “I am humbled and honored that Republicans have chosen me to take the fight to Kristen McDonald Rivet,” the incumbent Democratic congresswoman who holds the seat. 

Covering Flint and other parts of Central Michigan, the 8th District is one of 13 House seats where voters elected a Democrat to Congress but favored Mr. Trump for the presidency in 2024.

Hassan, a Navy veteran with a background in federal law enforcement, said he’s “disappointed not defeated” in a post on X.

Hassan is so far the only Trump-endorsed House candidate in this year’s midterm election cycle to lose a primary. Mr. Trump alluded to Hassan’s defeat without mentioning him by name Wednesday.

“I endorsed a lot of candidates, and the end result — I was 28 wins and one loss. It was a little bit of a person that I thought was a good person. Didn’t have much of a chance, but I said, ‘I don’t care, I’m doing it anyway.'” 

“Good person, very good, very respected, but nobody knew who the person was,” the president said during a speech in Las Vegas.