MICHIGAN — Small business owner Garrett Soldano announced on Wednesday his candidacy for governor of Michigan.
“Like President Trump, I’m not a politician and I’ve never run for office before,” Soldano said. “Michigan needs a governor who will restore the freedoms that Gretchen Whitmer has stripped away from us.”
Soldano started a Facebook group back in April 2020 called “Michiganders Against Excessive Quarantine,” which had almost 400,000 members before Facebook shut it down.
RELATED: Facebook group 'Michiganders against excessive quarantine' takes off
RELATED: ‘We’re going to win this fight’ says creator of anti-quarantine group shut down by Facebook
He then started the organization “Stand Up Michigan” to protest Whitmer’s administration’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Soldano was also co-chairman of the Unlock Michigan campaign, which wants to repeal Whitmer’s use of one of the state’s emergency declaration laws.
"We need to re-open Michigan and start the recovery by giving people their lives back," Soldano said. "This pandemic is real and has impacted all of us, but Governor Whitmer is responsible for the shuttering of businesses, thousands of kids falling behind in school, and people losing their livelihoods all in the name of a political power grab."