I’m embarrassed to admit that we were shockingly far into the 2026 election cycle before I learned about the troubling history of Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum, now running to be Michigan’s next secretary of state. Though extensively covered by Lansing news outlets, the story hasn’t really gotten traction outside of the capital city.
In 2022, Byrum’s son, then 13, was expelled from Mason Public Schools after a classmate accused him of sexual assault, according to a lawsuit and local media reports. The lawsuit alleged that the boy put his hands into the girl’s pants during class, persisting even as she tried to get him to stop, and that he “tried to perform the same act” about a week later. The boy was not criminally charged, but a district Title IX investigation determined that he had violated school policy. After the expulsion, Byrum and her husband, Ingham County Sheriff detective Brad Delaney, petitioned the district to re-enroll their son at the same school the victim continued to attend, which Michigan law allows.
The girl’s parents filed suit in federal court against Byrum and Delaney, the district and three administrators in 2024, claiming that the district had failed to safeguard the girl by re-admitting the boy and not adequately enforcing a personal protection order, and that Byrum and Delaney had used their political clout to engineer the boy’s re-enrollment. Students at Mason High School staged a protest, citing “safety concerns” and a lack of transparency related to the lawsuit’s claims and another incident.
Byrum and Delaney were dismissed from the suit; a federal judge didn’t weigh in on whether the couple used inappropriate political influence, saying only that the plaintiff hadn’t met the evidentiary standard to prove gender bias, the basis of the federal lawsuit. The district later settled with the girl’s parents. Byrum told Lansing media outlets that the lawsuit was an attempt to “shake me down because I am a public figure.” Last month, Byrum told me she hadn’t done anything wrong. “It used to be that when attacks would come, there would be an ounce of truth,” she said. “Now we see attacks coming whether there’s no truth or any truth at all.” When I asked what part was untrue, she replied, “I did not use any sway to get my child admitted into school. I did not utilize any undue influence, that is categorically false.”
Now that we’re all caught up: Barb Byrum must exit the secretary of state race.
The once-crowded SOS field has narrowed since Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II threw his hat in the ring last month, quickly locking up key labor endorsements. Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie, an admirable and capable person who had worked hard to build support, dropped out after Gilchrist’s entrance. Former state Sen. Adam Hollier, whose bid for office last cycle ended when a paid signature gatherer forged names on Hollier’s nominating petitions (including that of a Free Press reporter) left the race last week, opting to run instead for the state Senate.
Byrum needs to follow their lead.
Why? Take your pick:
This year’s GOP frontrunners for secretary of state include Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini, who has raised an overwrought alarm about a favorite Republican bogeyman, non-citizen voting. Forlini said that he had identified 15 non-citizens among the millions of eligible voters on the state’s rolls; an investigation by Benson’s office found that Forlini’s claims were largely hot air. Another Republican candidate, Monica Yatooma, has posted to social media about “election trap houses” which, first of all, she believes are a thing, and second, sees as evidence of potential voter fraud.
Byrum has, by all accounts, performed her duties as clerk well. I believe she genuinely cares about democracy. If she proceeds with this ill-conceived campaign, there is a chance she might become the party’s nominee, asking Michigan Democrats voting this fall to sacrifice their moral clarity to prevent a GOP election denier from becoming secretary of state. So I’m asking you, Clerk Byrum, for the sake of Michigan Democrats and for democracy: Please stop.
This column originally published in the Feb. 6 Freep Opinion newsletter. Freep Opinion is your roundup of the week’s opinion content, including an exclusive bonus column from Editorial Page Editor Nancy Kaffer or one of our contributing columnists. Sign up here.
Nancy Kaffer is the editorial page editor of the Detroit Free Press. Contact: nkaffer@freepress.com. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters, and we may publish it online and in print.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Barb Byrum must drop out of SOS race | Opinion
Reporting by Nancy Kaffer, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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