Jean Cramer, Michigan politician who said she opposes interracial marriage, refuses calls to exit campaign

A Michigan politician who said she opposes interracial marriage has refused calls to end her campaign, according to the Port Huron Times Herald.

Jean Cramer, who is running for city council in Marysville, Mich., made a series of controversial statements during a candidate forum last Thursday.

"Keep Marysville a white community as much as possible," Cramer said when moderators asked her about diversity in the town, which is more than 95 percent white. "Seriously. In other words, no foreign-born. No foreign people."

Cramer followed up the forum with more comments on Friday, telling reporters she is opposed to interracial marriage. When asked if she understood why her statements might be upsetting to some people, Cramer told the Times Herald, "If there is a biracial marriage in the family, yes."

"Because those people don’t know the other side of it," she continued. "For whatever reason, I’ve heard, they love each other, whatever, but there’s also such a thing as remaining single. People don’t necessarily have to get married, and, if they love somebody, love them single. There’s nothing wrong with that."

The 67-year-old, who has cited the Bible as a source of her beliefs, first expressed her thoughts on interracial marriage after Thursday's forum, when the Times Herald asked her if she wanted to clarify her comments.

"[A] husband and wife need to be the same race. Same thing with kids. That’s how it’s been from the beginning of, how can I say, when God created the heaven and the earth. He created Adam and Eve at the same time," she told the newspaper. "But as far as me being against blacks, no, I’m not."

Cramer has told reporters she does not plan to drop out of the race, despite outrage from many local politicians. The town's mayor, Dan Damman, called for her resignation on Friday.

"I would say that I probably came to the conclusion this morning," Damman told the Times Herald. "After the initial shock of what [Cramer] said really sank in and [given] the deep-seated viewpoints that she has, I don’t believe that she is fit to serve as an elected official in Marysville or anywhere else."

Kathy Hayman, the city’s mayor pro tempore, told the New York Times on Saturday that she also thinks Cramer should leave the race.

"If those are her personal views and opinion, that’s fine," Hayman said. "But it’s hard to run a city with that type of belief."

Cramer also drew the ire of several social media users, who responded to her comments with photos of their multiracial families.

"Are you proud of yourself for still being an ignorant white supremacist in 2019???" one tweet said. "Gods gonna make you Black in your next life, should you be so lucky!!!"