Patrick Colbeck

Colbeck was born on October 7, 1965, in Dearborn, Michigan. He is a graduate of Detroit Catholic Central High School. He later graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor with a Bachelors of Science in Aerospace Engineering in 1987 and a Masters of Science in Aerospace Engineering in 1988.[2] He went on to study Life Sciences for a summer at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France.

Colbeck was employed by Boeing as a Senior Design Engineer responsible for components of the Environmental Control and Life Support System and Quest Airlock module for International Space Station. He later provided contract systems engineering services to the Department of Defense for work on advanced simulation system for training military forces.[3] Colbeck then served as a Management Consultant and President of Perspective Shifts, LLC. He launched Tek Made Easy in 2007 to provide SharePoint-based web services for clients. In 2006, he published the book Information Technology Roadmap for Professional Service Firms.[4]

He is married to his wife Angie since 1995. They both are members of Northridge Church in Plymouth, Michigan, and call Canton, Michigan home.[5]

Senator Colbeck ran for office during the Tea Party wave of the 2010 elections. As a member of the Rattle With Us Tea Party in Plymouth, Michigan, he leveraged his retirement account to fund his campaign to become the first State Senator elected directly into the Michigan Senate without ever having served in public office in three decades. During his first term in the Michigan Senate, he served on the Senate Leadership Team as the Assistant Caucus Chair. He also served as the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and State Police budgets. During his second term, his outspoken opposition to Obamacare, tax increases, and Common Core Standards motivated the Republican Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof to make him the only returning Republican Senator to be denied any chairmanships.[6] He later had him removed from all committees after Colbeck attended a Right to Life Dinner in the Senate Majority Leader's district.[7]

In 2011–2012, Colbeck led the effort to make Michigan the 24th Right-to-Work state in the United States. Characterized as "arguably the most vocal conservative in the Michigan Senate",[7] he led the effort to oppose state-based health exchanges in Michigan and Medicaid Expansion. He was successful regarding the state-based exchange effort but, despite a procedural move that temporarily blocked passage, he was ultimately unsuccessful in stopping Medicaid Expansion which is now referred to as the Healthy Michigan program. He was also responsible for the passage of legislation to expand school choice and he has been a vocal opponent of the Common Core Standards Initiative.

He is a co-founder and board member for the Michigan Armed Forces Hospitality Center known as the Freedom Center.[8] He chronicled his time in the Michigan Senate in his book Wrestling Gators: An Outsider's Guide to Draining the Swamp[9] as well as chronicled the 2020 election in The 2020 Coup: What happened? What we can do?[10]

On May 31, 2017, Colbeck filed to run for Michigan governor to replace then Republican governor Rick Snyder, whose second and final term expired in January 2019.[24][25] Colbeck was widely recognized as the most conservative candidate for governor in the 2018 gubernatorial race.[26][27]

Colbeck ran on what he called "Principled Solutions," asserting that the "solutions to the issues we face as a state are driven by guiding principles, not the whims of powerful special interests." His "principled solutions" are: job growth, excellence in education, no state income tax, budgets driven by priorities of the citizens of the state, better roads, quality and affordable healthcare, affordable auto insurance, defending your rights and supporting those who secure your rights.[28]

In August 2018, Colbeck lost the Republican primary to then-Attorney General Bill Schuette. He received 13% of the Republican primary vote in a 4-way primary race.[1]

In November 2020, Colbeck was a certified poll challenger at the TCF Center in Detroit, Michigan. He later appeared at the 2020 Wayne County Board of Canvassers and Michigan State Board of Canvassers Certification meetings sharing concerns over unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.[29] An affidavit filed by Colbeck claims that the computers used by election officials were connected to the Internet, which "opens the door" to possible vote manipulation.[30] However, chief judge Timothy Kenny found that there was "No evidence" to support these claims.[31]

Colbeck assisted My Pillow Inc. founder Mike Lindell in the production of a two-hour documentary, Absolute Proof,[32] that aired on conservative media outlets and social media February 5, asserting Chinese cyber hacking was largely responsible for Joe Biden winning the presidency in 2020. The New York Times described the production the same day as "a falsehood-laden film about election fraud," reliant upon discredited testimony and baseless speculation.[33] Colbeck appeared on FLASHPOINT February 12, as a guest of Kenneth Copeland Ministries VICTORY CHANNEL, insisting that Lindell's documentary stuck to "100% objective facts" and not "conjecture" and that Colbeck's role in Absolute Proof earned him "no fallout," and that "people are hungry for this information."[34] The "fallout" relates to negative consequences Lindell incurred since promoting Donald Trump's 2020 election grievances and conspiracies propagated since November by lawyers associated with Trump.

In June 2021, Colbeck participated in a rally at Lansing, calling for an audit of Michigan's 2020 election similar to the Arizona audit. In the rally, Colbeck called the event a "spiritual battle" and compared the 2020 election to the persecution of Jesus Christ[35] and in 2022 chronicled the 2020 election in The 2020 Coup: What happened? What we can do?[10]