One candidate for the Michigan Democrat party, who had the opportunity to be one of the youngest legislators to be elected in Michigan history and received the official endorsement of Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), has now lost the support of his party to a massive degree.
Swathes of House Democrats in Michigan officially cut ties this past week with 20-year-old Maurice Imhoff, a resident of Jackson, Michigan, who is still battling in a close race for a House of Representatives seat in the state. The rapid dropping of the young candidate by the party takes place in the wake of numerous police reports coming to light, seemingly indicating that Imhoff has been investigated a total of three separate times while attending high school for allegedly issuing threats of school shootings and had been placed on probation previously for attacking a police officer, as reported by The Detroit News.
“The Michigan House Democratic Campaign will not be supporting Maurice Imhoff’s campaign for state representative,” expressed Donna Lasinski, the Michigan House Democratic Leader.
Lasinski, accompanied by many other head Democrats for the state, had recently taken time to fundraise alongside Imhoff, and Whitmer once labeled the young man as a “passionate problem solver.” However, as of this past Tuesday, one spokeswoman speaking for the office of the governor claimed that she was no longer standing in support of the Imhoff campaign, stating “the allegations are serious and concerning,” as reported by The Detroit News
Back in December of 2016, at the ripe old age of 15, Imhoff was reportedly investigated by the Sheriff’s Office of Jackson County in the wake of another student showing their parents a picture from social media coming from Imhoff. Officials for the Sheriff’s office stated that the posts allegedly indicated “he was going to cause trouble at school and [possibly] shoot up students inside the school and also shoot himself.”
Imhoff would later admit to actually posting the uncovered threats, stating that he was very upset becuase of a then recent breakup, along with other various stresses at school, but he explained to the authorities that he would absolutely not have followed up on the threats, as read from police reports.
After another two years, Imhoff was once again investigated concerning another allegations that he “referenced a shooting that was going to take place at Northwest High School” in a conversation with his then girlfriend. She proceeded to tell the police that she did not think Imhoff was serious about the threat, and that Imhoff stated that “the entire situation was blown out of proportion.”
The report from 2018 indicated that Imhoff was on probation for assault against a police officer.
Then in February of 2019, another tip alleged that Imhoff “posted on his private story with a gun saying he wanted to shoot people that go to Northwest and Western tomorrow,” as explaiend via a police report. However, no evidence of the alleged threats were disocvered resulting in no charged being filed.
As of this past Tuesday, the various social media account for Imhoff had been taken down, and the website for his campaign prompted visitors to input a password to gain access.