Did this Republican actually launch a bid for Senate? Honestly, we can't tell

Former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, a Michigan Republican who was ejected from the 2022 primary ballot for governor over fraudulent signatures, seems to have trouble both starting and ending his campaigns.

Craig said just last month that he was 99% sure he'd run to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a figure that appeared to increase to 100% when he told Politico over the weekend, "I will be a candidate for the workers because I am a worker." He then tweeted out that same statement on Monday in boldface.

But while that declaration, as well as his accompanying assurance—"We are going to win"—sure sounded like the words of a man who is 100% sure he is running for office, no news outlet appears to be treating the former chief as a declared candidate. Craig himself has yet to set up a fundraising account with the FEC, so he still seems to be content to merely talk like a candidate rather than behave like one.

Yet this is by no means the first time Craig has turned the routine task of announcing a run for higher office into an adventure. He told the world in July of 2021 that he was forming an exploratory committee to take on Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, even though that sort of entity doesn't actually exist under Michigan law. He then went on Fox hours later and unequivocally told Tucker Carlson, "I am running," but he still insisted on waiting almost two months before holding a formal campaign launch.