Dar Leaf, the prominent anti-choice sheriff of Michigan’s Barry County and leader of the right-wing “constitutional sheriff” movement, is winning the Republican primary by a wide margin, according to unofficial polls.
No Democrats filed to run, so Leaf will likely continue to serve as sheriff.
Leaf, who has been sheriff for 20 years, has developed a passionate base of support in Barry County — and has earned a national reputation for promoting the fringe view of the constitutional sheriff movement that sheriffs have the ultimate power to enforce. constitution within their jurisdiction – above the courts and the federal government. He is associated with “sovereign citizens” who take an extreme, anti-government view and claim they are not subject to US law, and also sells militia courses.
Related: Dar Leaf, Michigan’s “constitutional” militia-supporting sheriff, is running for re-election
Leaf’s opponents in Tuesday’s primary — Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Noteboom, Sergeant Richelle Spencer and local small business owner Joel Ibbotson — made Leaf’s involvement in the national far right a focus of their campaigns.
“He goes off and does these speaking engagements, 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 — under the guidance of pro-choice attorney Stefanie Lambert — launched an investigation into the Barry County election that remains open but has turned up no evidence of collusion. Still, Leaf has continued to promote his research, suggesting to the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) this year that his work on the election was far from over.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Leaf — who has long championed the idea that sheriffs should find alliances with militias — rallied alongside militia groups to oppose Covid-19 lockdowns. Leaf’s defiance of social distancing mandates likely spoke to many residents of Barry County, which overwhelmingly elected Donald Trump in 2020. But he earned criticism, including from within his own party, when he hedged his criticism of the men involved in the alleged plot to kidnap the Michigan governor. Gretchen Whitmer – suggested that they had conducted a citizen’s 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 local opposition, his extreme ideology still finds resonance in rural Michigan.
