Mike Brown, seen here in a photo from his campaign’s Facebook page, has withdrawn from the Michigan governor’s race. (Facebook photo)

MARQUETTE — Michigan State Police veteran Mike Brown announced Tuesday that he is withdrawing his bid to be the Republican challenger for governor after he was identified as one of five GOP gubernatorial candidates who the Michigan Bureau of Elections say did not receive enough valid signatures to qualify.

The recommendation from the bureau came Monday evening.

Brown was scheduled to campaign in the Marquette area on Tuesday.

“It appears that after my campaign’s signature gathering was complete, individuals independently contracted for a portion of our signature gathering and validation jumped onto other campaigns and went on a money grab,” Brown said in a statement. “They were involved in allegedly fraudulent signature-gathering activities with these campaigns, causing the Michigan Bureau of Elections to declare all of the signatures connected to those individuals as invalid.”

Brown, along with former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, businessman Perry Johnson, Donna Brandenburg and Michael Markey Jr., were found to be well under the 15,000 signature qualification threshold, officials say. Craig had been considered a front-runner in the race up to this point.

According to the bureau, Brown had received only 7,091 valid signatures, with over 13,000 that were found to be invalid. Craig had over 10,000 valid signatures and over 11,000 invalid. Markey and Brandenburg combined for over 28,000 invalid signatures.

The bipartisan Board of State Canvassers is scheduled to meet Thursday to review the election bureau’s findings.

If the canvassers agree with the election bureau’s recommendations, the field of 10 GOP candidates would be cut in half.

According to The Associated Press, the bureau discovered the alleged fraud during its own review and was not part of challenges brought forward by the Michigan Democratic Party and fellow GOP gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon.

Former conservative TV personality Dixon will remain on the ballot, where she will be joined by chiropractor Garrett Soldano, businessman Kevin Rinke, real-estate broker and anti-lockdown activist Ryan Kelley, as well as pastor Ralph Rebandt.

According to the AP, the bureau found 36 separate circulators whose submitted documents consisted completely of invalid signatures, which involved 10 campaigns, including in the race for governor and in several judgeships.

Randy Crouch can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 242. His email address is rcrouch@miningjournal.net.