Dave Moyle is pictured. The Former Delta County Board of Commissioners Chair, who was removed from the board last May by voters in a special recall election, has announced he is suspending his campaign to rejoin the board. (Escanaba Daily Press photo)

ESCANABA — Former Delta County Board of Commissioners Chair Dave Moyle, who was removed from the board last May by voters in a special recall election, has announced he is suspending his campaign to rejoin the board.

“Even if I’m elected, I will not accept that office,” Moyle told the Daily Press Wednesday morning.

Moyle cited a number of reasons for his decision to pull out of the race for the District 4 seat. Among his reasons were health issues; social media posts targeting Republican Primary Candidate Sandra Skiba, including one Moyle said mocked and included pictures of Skiba’s 14-year-old daughter; and lies Moyle said were spread about Skiba by Commission Chair John Malnar and Patrick Johnson, who will run unopposed in November for the District 2 seat after defeating Commissioner Steven Viau for the Republican nomination.

“I cannot serve under those conditions because it would never dawn on me to attack the family of my opponents or my opponents in that way. So it’s not a matter of I’m taking my bat and my ball and going home because I lost. No, everybody loses in politics,” said Moyle.

Moyle told the Daily Press he was the first person to ask Skiba to run for the District 1 seat against Malnar in Tuesday’s primary. She was defeated, with Malnar 552 receiving votes (55.87%) to Skiba’s 433 (43.83%).

This is not the first time Moyle has indicated he did not intend to seek the District 4 seat due to the political climate. In July of 2023, Moyle said he intended to fight the recall effort against him but did not intend to run for the seat, citing a number of incidents that had impacted his daughter. He reversed his position in March of this year after he and commissioners Bob Barron and Bob Petersen — all of whom were recalled in May — were sent anonymous death threats.

“Basically, what I want to let this person know is you’re not going to scare me into leaving any more than you’re going to scare me into resigning. You picked a fight; I’m here to fight,” he said in March when he restarted his campaign.

The threats were later linked to Peter James Sand, a 22-year-old Daggett Township man, who was also tied to threats against the Menominee County Prosecutor’s Office and the Marquette County Clerk’s Office.

Moyle’s exit from the race all but guarantees the District 4 seat will go to Democrat Kelli van Ginhoven, who replaced Moyle as a result of the recall election and currently serves as the board’s vice-chair.

Moyle has repeatedly argued that van Ginhoven was responsible for personal and political attacks against him and other commissioners — a claim he repeated Wednesday in a Facebook post made announcing his withdrawal from the race that referred to the van Ginhoven’s “useful idiots” and “attack dogs.”

“I will be a private citizen from now on and not a public figure anymore, and I will protect my family like a private citizen,” Moyle wrote in the post.

During the months leading up to the recall, Moyle repeatedly said the recall was politically motivated by van Ginhoven’s supporters, who he said were angry he had defeated her for the District 4 seat in 2022. That claim was widely denied by members of the Delta County Citizens for Ethical Leadership, a coalition of residents who sought the recall.

In his posted statement, Moyle thanked his supporters but chastised those who did not vote in Tuesday’s primary.

“For those of you who supported me, God bless you and thank you. To those of you who didn’t get off your a** and vote, enjoy the left and what they bring. God knows you certainly deserve it,” he wrote.