Dar Leaf, Barry County’s prominent election-denying sheriff, Michiganand leader of the right-wing “constitutional sheriffs” movement, will win the Republican primary by a wide margin, according to unofficial vote totals.
No Democrats filed to run, so Leaf will likely continue serving as sheriff.
Leaf, who served as sheriff for 20 years, developed a passionate base of support in Barry County — and gained a national reputation for promoting the fringe notion, embraced by the constitutional sheriffs movement, that sheriffs have the ultimate authority to enforce the constitution in their jurisdiction – above the courts and the federal government. He is linked to “sovereign citizens” who embrace extreme, anti-government views and claim they are not subject to US law, and also sell militia classes.
Related: Dar Leaf, Michigan’s ‘constitutional’ pro-militia sheriff, runs for re-election
Leaf’s opponents in Tuesday’s primary — Sheriff Mark Noteboom, Sergeant Richelle Spencer and Joel Ibbotson, a local small business owner — have made Leaf’s membership in the national far right a focus of their campaigns.
“He goes away and gives speeches and when he does that he’s not available to us and he’s not aware of what’s going on in his own community,” Spencer told the Guardian before the election.
After the 2020 election, Leaf — with the guidance of election denier attorney Stefanie Lambert — launched an investigation into the Barry County election that remains open but has revealed no evidence of conspiracy. Still, Leaf continued to publicize her investigation, suggesting this year to the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) that her work on the election was not yet complete.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Leaf — who has long championed the idea that sheriffs should find alliances with militias — rallied alongside militia groups in opposition to Covid-19 lockdowns. Leaf’s defiance of social distancing mandates likely affected many residents of Barry County, which he elected overwhelmingly donald trump in 2020. But he received criticism, including from his own party, when he avoided his criticism of the men involved in the Alleged Plot to Kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer – suggesting that they had carried out a citizens’ arrest.
“In Michigan, if it’s a felony, you can make a felony arrest,” he told reporters at the time.
Leaf’s victory suggests that despite some local opposition, his extreme ideology continues to find resonance in his rural Michigan county.
