Woman Who Wanted to 'Keep City White' Drops Out of Race

A woman who wanted to exclude foreigners and discourage interracial marriages has dropped out of a city council race in Michigan. Jean Cramer, who stunned fellow candidates with her racist remarks at a forum last week, hand-delivered a one-sentence withdrawal notice to Marysville City Hall on Monday, MLive.com reports. When asked at the forum what the city should do to attract more foreign-born residents, the 67-year-old said she wanted to "keep Marysville as white as possible," adding: "White. Seriously. In other words, no foreign-born, no foreign people." She later doubled down on her remarks when speaking to the Port Huron Times Herald, adding that she was opposed to interracial marriage and claiming the Bible backed up her views.

Marysville, around 55 miles north of Detroit, has a population of less than 10,000 people and is around 95% white. Mayor Dan Damman says he is glad Cramer has withdrawn from the race, the New York Times reports. "My hope is that she realizes that with her ideology she is not fit for office in Marysville or anywhere else," he says. Cramer's name will still be on the ballot in November because she withdrew so late in the race, but Damman predicts that she will decline to serve even if she gets the most votes. "I just cannot in any way see that happening—not in our city," he says. "There has been so much backlash toward her from our residents just saying, 'You do not represent who we are.'" (More Michigan stories.)