Michigan false elector compares stress of indictment to cancer diagnosis

Lansing — Marian Sheridan, one of the 16 Michigan false electors facing felony charges, compared the stress of her indictment to a cancer diagnosis in a video that was included in a Tuesday fundraising telethon.

The telethon, organized by conservative groups, was attempting to raise $800,000 for the legal defense of the Republicans who signed a certificate in December 2020, falsely claiming that former President Donald Trump had won Michigan's 16 electoral votes.

In July, Attorney General Dana Nessel announced eight felony charges, including forgery, against each of the Republican electors. Sheridan, one of the GOP electors, is the Michigan Republican Party's grassroots vice chairwoman.

"I've described it to people as being diagnosed with cancer," Sheridan of Oakland County said in a video aired during the telethon. "I think that's probably what it's like. You just don't know if you're going to survive it or not."

The conservative website Gateway Pundit, which was helping put on the telethon Tuesday, posted a clip of Sheridan's remarks on the video website Rumble. The title of the video was "Michigan alternate elector describes horror after indictment by Dana Nessel."

In response, state Rep. Betsy Coffia, D-Traverse City, labeled Sheridan's comments a "wildly tone deaf bid for sympathy."

"Is Ms. Sheridan aware that cancer patients don’t *choose* to get cancer?" Coffia asked on the website X, formerly known as Twitter. "Unlike her *choice* to commit a crime?"

As of 6 p.m., the telethon had raised about $87,200.

Among the donors to the telethon was Republican presidential candidate and businessman Perry Johnson of Bloomfield Hills, who pledged $10,000. Johnson said the charges were unfair.

"They weren't doing anything they thought was wrong," Johnson said. "And here they are unable to pay attorneys' bills."

Nessel has said the false electors violated state laws as part of "an organized effort to circumvent the lawfully cast ballots of millions of Michigan voters in a presidential election." Democrat Joe Biden won Michigan's 2020 presidential election by 154,000 votes or 3 percentage points over Trump, meaning he secured the state's 16 electoral votes.

But Trump supporters orchestrated a plan to submit a certificate to the federal government, inaccurately claiming Trump had scored Michigan's electoral votes in an attempt to try to challenge his defeat in Congress.

The 16 Republican electors in Michigan have pleaded not guilty, and their cases are pending in Ingham County District Court.

cmauger@detroitnews.com