DeSana Calls Fellow House Republicans ‘Scumbags,’ ‘Swamp Rats’ In Leaked Recording

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 06/17/2026) The deteriorating relationship Rep. James DeSana (R-Carleton) has with Monroe County Republicans spilled onto the House floor Wednesday after a private recording circulated in which he called his fellow Republican representatives “scumbags” and negatively framed Jamie Thompson (R-Brownstown)'s account of her daughter’s death. Thompson said she feels like her deceased daughter's memory was “mocked.”

The recording appeared to have prompted the House Republican Women’s Caucus to walk out of session. Soon after they returned, House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) pulled DeSana for a conversation off the floor.

DeSana told MIRS he wanted to be protective of the details from the conversation. Though he said most of it was about caucus unity, adding that Hall encouraged him to talk to the Representatives who reached out to him. Overall, he said it was a good, productive conversation.

The fallout followed the circulation of excerpts from a March Zoom meeting between DeSana and Monroe County Republican Party officials. Todd Gillman, who resigned as county party chair May 12 following disputes with DeSana, said he was the one who recorded the meeting and sent portions of it to Thompson this week.

In the recording, DeSana criticized Thompson and Rep. Rylee Linting (R-Wyandotte), saying he would not endorse either lawmaker. His comments, however, didn't stop at just those two lawmakers.

“I look at almost every one of my fellow state reps as a scumbag,” DeSana said in the recording. “These people stay in Lansing, they drink with the lobbyists, they eat with the lobbyists, they are swamp rats to the core, to the nth degree. And they even date each other. They stay out. We've got three couples in our 56 members, six people are dating each other or engaged with each other. It's pretty disgusting, actually.”

Much of the recording focused on his apparent disdain for Thompson, which sources say he's had for half a decade. However, he told MIRS that Thompson “has had a vendetta against me from day one because I knew about her previous run-ins with the law." He added that when he first ran for his seat, she posted a video accusing him of attempting to bribe one of his primary opponents to not run against him.

As for the audio records released Wednesday, DeSana spent time explaining to the Monroe County Republican Party's executive committee the backstory of his dispute with her, candidly sharing thoughts about her family. This included her late daughter, who died nearly five years ago in a motorcycle accident, leaving behind children whom Thompson is now raising.

During the March call, DeSana criticized Thompson for speaking publicly about her daughter’s experience in an abusive relationship and questioned Thompson’s portrayal of her daughter as a victim.

“How many times have you heard her tell the story about how her daughter was victimized on a motorcycle?” DeSana said in the meeting.

When another participant objected to discussing decisions Thompson’s daughter may have made before her death, DeSana responded that Thompson tells the story frequently.

“It’s this whole victim mentality,” DeSana said. “This is why I don’t want to have anything to do with her.”

He tied those remarks to Thompson’s resolution on “date violence,” calling her advocacy “hypocritical” because of allegations involving Thompson’s adult son.

“It's the whole story she brings out every single time,” DeSana said to the Monroe County Republicans. “She's told it 20-30 times about her daughter, who was killed on a motorcycle tragically.”

When he referred to this in the March meeting, he said she lied about him spreading her family's personal information out, but that she and other Republicans were the ones who were “always looking” at what they do. He referred to them as “digging stuff up about Matt Hall."

“You know, you saw all the things they brought up about Matt Hall," he said in the meeting. “They were always digging stuff up about Matt Hall, and yeah, did we FOIA the police report? We did it. It wasn't me, but I was made aware of the police report and recording.”

DeSana also said that Thompson has sent her staff into his office on two occasions to discuss political documents, which he said is a clear violation of the law.

“I reported both of these incidents to the House," he said. Her aide even accused one of my staff of forgery.”

He added that Thompson “blames him for all of her problems," then continued to share his opinion on the death of her daughter and her personal life.

“While the death of an adult child is tragically sad, this event was not the result of domestic violence,” DeSana said. “Her daughter was leaving a Romulus strip club at 2 a.m. on her boyfriend’s motorcycle and they hit a pothole, according to the police, and both were ejected and died.”

The leaked recording is the latest consequence of DeSana’s growing conflict with Republicans in the Monroe County portion of his district.

Thompson told MIRS that she entered politics in part as an outlet for her grief.

“Politics aside, I truly ran for office to put my pain somewhere because I couldn’t bear it,” Thompson said. “June 24 will be five years.”

“I care deeply about the families I represent. I’m not perfect. I have never claimed to be, but right is right and wrong is wrong,” she said. “My daughter’s life meant something and I will not have her mocked. She is not a survivor. She is a victim because she is not here. Every day I look at her children and I wish she was here to share in their memories.”

Gillman said he resigned as chair of the Monroe County Republican Party on May 12 after DeSana spent “countless hours, days, weeks” trying to secure enough executive committee votes to remove Gillman and the party’s vice chair. Though he said DeSana failed to secure the votes needed to remove him, he continued calling members of the executive committee.

Gillman said the dispute arose partly over control of a committee that would consider rewriting the county party’s bylaws. Gillman maintained that appointing the committee was his responsibility as chair.

According to Gillman, DeSana contacted executive committee members about creating a separate bylaws committee and instructed them not to tell Gillman or the vice chair. Gillman said that when he confronted DeSana, the representative responded: “I don’t give a shit what you know. I am coming for your resignation.”

“I finally just had enough of it and resigned,” Gillman said. “And then, when I resigned, within the next day, about 18 other people resigned too. I mean, he was calling people so much they were having to block his phone."

Gillman said the Zoom meeting was called by DeSana on a Sunday night to brief local Republicans following news reports involving Thompson’s son. Gillman recorded the roughly 90-minute conversation but sent only portions of it, saying other participants did not want the full call made public.

He initially held onto the recording because he said he did not want to reopen the grief surrounding Thompson’s daughter. Ultimately, he decided Thompson had a right to hear what DeSana had said about her.

“I think Jamie deserves to know what is being said about her by a sitting state rep,” Gillman said. “I’m opening myself up for a world of hate, but you know what, I’m trying to do the right thing.”