UPDATE: At 5:00 p.m. Binkley’s campaign said that “After speaking on the phone with Ryan Binkley, the party chairwoman (MIGOP) has confirmed that she is submitting Ryan’s name.”

UPDATE: At 1:27 p.m. – Michigan News Source received a communication from Cheri Hardmon, Senior Press Secretary for Michigan Dept. of State, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. She said, “Under Michigan law, the Secretary of State is tasked with deciding which candidates are ‘generally advocated by the national news media to be potential presidential candidates.’ While some candidates may have been mentioned in one or more national news stories, several candidates were determined to not meet the threshold of “generally advocated” for 2024.

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She reiterated that the Michigan GOP and Michigan Democratic Party have until 4 p.m., November 14, to add any candidate they choose to the candidate list. Anyone not listed as a potential presidential candidate by the Secretary of State or state party chairperson who wishes to appear on the primary ballot in February can file a nominating petition with the Secretary of State no later than 4 p.m. on December 8, 2023.

LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – In order to make Michigan’s secretary of state’s initial list for the presidential primary ballot, state law says that the SOS must include individuals “generally advocated by the national news media to be potential presidential candidates.”

Michigan’s Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson emailed out the list of 2024 potential presidential candidates on Monday and it was missing a Republican candidate. No, it wasn’t former President Donald Trump, who is currently involved in a court battle to keep him off of the state’s ballot. The missing candidate is Ryan Binkley.

On the Democratic Party side, Benson listed the candidates as Joe Biden, Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips. On the Republican side, the candidates listed are Doug Burgum, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Asa Hutchinson, Vivek Ramaswamy and Donald Trump.

For some reason, Benson did not include Republican presidential candidate Ryan Binkley on her list. When asked why his name wasn’t on the list, her press office didn’t seem aware of the candidate and said they would look into it. Michigan News Source also reached out to the Michigan GOP, who has until 4 pm today to add his name to the list, but they did not respond to our inquiry to see if they were going to correct the error.

Binkley, President and CEO of Generational Group in Richardson, Texas, and founder and pastor at Create Church, appears to a long shot to win the presidential competition but some might say that he’s in no worse of a position than Democrats Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips. Furthermore, Binkley has received national media attention for his campaign including from NBC News, ABC News, Yahoo Finance, the Hill, the New York Times and others.

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Michigan News Source reached out to Binkley’s campaign about not being listed on Benson’s potential ballot and campaign spokesperson Diane Moca said, “Presidential candidate Ryan Binkley has not dropped out of the race and has no plans to. Ryan has field teams that are focused specifically on making sure he will qualify for every state ballot prior to the deadline. I will check on the status of his Michigan ballot access and update you when I get more information.”

Binkley has been a low-profile candidate ever since he announced that he was running for president back in April of 2023. At the time, he told his supporters at the University of Texas at Dallas, “I believe in God, I believe in America, I believe in liberty and I believe in you. And I’m asking you today to believe in me. I’m running for the presidency of the United States of America.” Binkley’s vision includes a comprehensive strategy to secure the border, a strategy to balance the federal budget in seven years and restoring unity to the country.

Binkley has been unable to qualify to appear in any of the Republican debates thus far. He is, however, scheduled to be at an Iowa forum called “Faith & Family with the Feenstras”  set for December 9th along with scheduled candidates Doug Burgum, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, and Ron DeSantis.

Regardless of Benson’s current omission of having Binkley being on the list of potential presidential candidates, he can still appear on the ballot. Benson says in her email that the chairs of the Michigan Democratic and Republican parties have until 4 p.m. Nov. 14 to add names of other candidates to the candidate list for their party. Additionally, candidates not placed on the list by the Secretary of State or the party chairs may gain access to the Michigan presidential primary ballot if they file a nominating petition with the Secretary of State no later than 4 p.m. Dec. 8. Candidates can also withdraw their names from consideration by December 8th as well.

In Benson’s email about who is to appear on Michigan’s presidential primary ballot, she explains why Trump is still listed as a candidate, even though he’s involved in a court case that might remove him. She says, “Two months ago, I made clear that under Michigan law, anyone generally advocated by the national news media to be a candidate for the Republican or Democratic nomination for president is listed on the ballot for the February 2024 primary unless a court rules otherwise.”

The Michigan presidential primary is currently scheduled for Feb. 27, 2024. Along with the candidates listed on the ballot, voters also may choose “uncommitted” as an option. The deadline for primary election ballots to be sent to military and overseas voters is Jan. 13, 2024, and absent voter ballots must be printed by Jan. 18, 2024.