This is Part 2 of an ongoing Clutch Justice investigation. Part 1, “What Happened to Ambrose Sullivan,” documents the 2016 fatal hit-and-run, the forensic record, the sentencing, and the financial relationship between the Vega family’s political operation and Rep. Gina Johnsen’s campaign committees. This installment documents the full Vega Media client roster across Michigan Republican candidates and committees.
All findings are sourced to Michigan Secretary of State campaign finance filings accessed via Transparency USA and the Michigan Transparency Network (MiTN); MiCOURT records; and candidate public profiles via Ballotpedia and Gongwer News Service.
Clutch Justice contacted Rep. Gina Johnsen’s legislative office, Rep. Jamie Thompson’s office, and the Rebandt for Governor campaign for comment prior to publication. No responses were received. This report will be updated to reflect any response received after publication.
No cases referenced in this report have been adjudicated on the merits of a Clutch Justice investigation. Correction requests may be submitted to hello@clutchjustice.com with supporting documentation.
Michigan Secretary of State campaign finance records show Vega Media, the political media company connected to the family of convicted hit-and-run driver David Michael Vega, has received $81,690 from Michigan Republican candidates and committees since 2021. Beyond the $49,250 documented from Rep. Gina Johnsen’s political operation in Part 1, Vega Media received $25,015 from the Ralph Rebandt for Governor committee and $13,075 from the Friends of Jamie Thompson committee. Rebandt is running for Governor of Michigan in the 2026 Republican primary. Thompson is a Republican member of the Michigan House representing District 28. The Vega family’s civil wrongful death judgment, entered June 29, 2018, in Livingston County’s 44th Circuit Court in the case brought by Ambrose Sullivan’s mother, has not been reported as satisfied in any public record. The Sullivan family was last documented pursuing a garnishment of income tax refunds in March 2021.
Vega Media’s total documented Michigan campaign finance receipts are $81,690 across all cycles, sourced to Michigan SOS filings via Transparency USA.
Ralph Rebandt, a Republican candidate for Governor of Michigan in 2026, paid Vega Media $25,015 across seven transactions between October and December 2025. Payment categories include Broadcast Ad Expense, Consultation Expense, and Campaign Training Expense.
Rep. Jamie Thompson (R-Brownstown, House District 28) paid Vega Media $13,075 across eight transactions between August 2022 and March 2024. Thompson represents parts of Monroe and Wayne counties, geographically separate from the Vega family’s Livingston County base.
Vega Media did not appear in Rebandt’s 2022 gubernatorial campaign filings. The payments began in October 2025, after Rebandt relaunched his 2026 campaign in September 2025.
No public record documents the Sullivan family’s wrongful death judgment as satisfied. The last civil case docket entry is a garnishment disclosure dated March 8, 2021, more than five years after Ambrose Sullivan was killed.
The Full Vega Media Client Roster
Michigan Secretary of State campaign finance records, as aggregated by Transparency USA across all available cycles, show the following payments to Vega Media, listed at Howell, Michigan, from 2021 through December 2025.
The payments span four years, three distinct candidate committees, one independent committee, and one family political committee. Vega Media does not appear in any Michigan campaign finance records prior to December 2021. Its entire documented Michigan political revenue has been generated since the Committee to Elect Gina Johnsen made its first payment of $4,250 on December 27, 2021.
Ralph Rebandt for Governor: $25,015
Vega Media received $25,015 from the Rebandt for Governor committee across seven transactions between October 9, 2025 and December 23, 2025. These payments are the most recently documented Vega Media receipts in any Michigan campaign finance filing and represent a new client relationship that began after Rebandt relaunched his campaign in September 2025.
The Rebandt committee’s 2026 cycle filings through March 31, 2026 show $0 in total contributions and $0 in total expenditures on the committee overview page, which Transparency USA notes reflects data through March 31, 2026. The Vega Media payments, dated October through December 2025, appear in the all-cycles payment records sourced to the same Michigan SOS filing system. The committee appears to be operating from residual funds carried over from the 2022 cycle, which closed with a surplus.
Vega Media did not appear in Ralph Rebandt’s 2022 gubernatorial campaign filings, which documented $546,089 in total expenditures with Vip Marketing Pros ($163,112) as the top vendor. Vega Media’s first documented Rebandt payment is dated October 9, 2025, less than three weeks after Rebandt publicly relaunched his 2026 campaign. By December 23, 2025, Vega Media had received $25,015 from the Rebandt committee. This is a new client relationship, not a continuation of a prior engagement. Source: Transparency USA, Michigan SOS, Rebandt for Governor, Committee ID 520027.
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Visit The Lab ?Rep. Jamie Thompson: $13,075
The Friends of Jamie Thompson committee paid Vega Media $13,075 across eight transactions between August 2022 and March 2024. The first payment of $125 was made August 15, 2022, followed by $75 on August 19, 2022. Payments continued through 2023 and into 2024, with the final documented transaction of $1,000 on March 1, 2024.
Thompson’s District 28 is in downriver Wayne and Monroe counties, not Livingston County. There is no documented geographic or organizational overlap between Thompson’s legislative district and the Vega family’s Livingston County base beyond the shared Vega Media vendor relationship. No public record establishes how Thompson came to engage Vega Media. The payment category fields in Thompson’s filings are blank at the transaction level in the Transparency USA database.
Friends of Jamie Thompson paid Vega Media $13,075 between August 2022 and March 2024, beginning four months before Gina Johnsen’s first Vega Media payment in December 2021 and running concurrently with Johnsen’s payments through 2024. Thompson’s legislative district is geographically distinct from Livingston County. No public record establishes the referral chain or how Thompson came to engage Vega Media. Payment purpose fields are blank in the Michigan SOS filing records. Source: Transparency USA, Michigan SOS, Friends of Jamie Thompson.
Jason Woolford: $500
Jason Woolford of Howell, Michigan paid Vega Media $500 on June 17, 2024. Woolford is a Livingston County candidate whose committee is registered in Howell. The payment is the smallest single transaction in the documented Vega Media client roster and, given the Howell address shared by both parties, represents a local engagement rather than a networked referral. Additional detail on Woolford’s specific race and committee is documented in Michigan SOS records.
What the Record Does Not Establish
The documented client roster does not establish that any individual candidate was referred to Vega Media by Rep. Johnsen or any other network actor. It establishes that Vega Media, a Howell-based political media company connected through campaign finance records to the family of convicted hit-and-run driver David Michael Vega, has received $81,690 from Michigan Republican candidates and committees across four years and multiple election cycles.
The payment purpose fields for the Johnsen and Thompson transactions are blank in the Michigan SOS filings. Rebandt’s payments are categorized as Broadcast Ad Expense, Consultation Expense, and Campaign Training Expense. The specific services rendered by Vega Media to any of these clients are not established in publicly available campaign finance filings.
This report does not establish that Rebandt, Thompson, or Woolford had knowledge of David Vega’s 2016 criminal conviction, the forensic record of the crash, or the Sullivan family’s unsatisfied wrongful death judgment when they engaged Vega Media. It establishes that they paid Vega Media, that those payments are documented in Michigan SOS filings, and that Vega Media is connected through campaign finance records to the Vega family’s own political committee, which lists David Vega and Patricia Vega as contributors.
Ambrose Ian Sullivan was 19 years old when David Michael Vega’s Corvette struck him on Whitmore Lake Road at approximately 1:40 a.m. on September 1, 2016. Vega pleaded guilty to a felony and served approximately five and a half months at Livingston County Jail. His father, Jeffrey Vega, was not charged despite the vehicle being found concealed in his warehouse. The Sullivan family filed a wrongful death suit. Both David Vega and Vega Group Inc. were found in default. A default judgment was entered June 29, 2018. The Sullivan family was still pursuing garnishment of income tax refunds in March 2021. No public record documents the judgment as satisfied. Vega Media, which shares a name, geography, and family committee membership with the Vega family, has received $81,690 in Michigan Republican campaign payments since December 2021. That is the complete documented record.
Transparency USA, Michigan Payee: Vega Media, All Cycles (2017 to Now). Documents $81,690 total received across all committees and candidates. City of record: Howell, Michigan. transparencyusa.org
Transparency USA, Michigan Committee: Ralph Rebandt for Governor, Committee ID 520027. 2026 cycle: $0 contributions/$0 expenditures through March 31, 2026. 2022 cycle: $586,981 total contributions, $546,089 total expenditures. Vega Media payments totaling $25,015 appear in all-cycles payment records, October through December 2025. transparencyusa.org
Transparency USA, Michigan Candidate: Jamie Thompson. Friends of Jamie Thompson committee, PO Box 682 Flat Rock MI 48134. Total contributions $46,125, total expenditures $39,143. Vega Media payments $13,075 across 8 transactions August 2022 to March 2024. transparencyusa.org
Ballotpedia, Ralph Rebandt. Republican candidate, Governor of Michigan 2026 primary August 4, 2026. Relaunched campaign September 18, 2025. Former senior pastor Oakland Hills Community Church, Farmington Hills. Board of Governors, Council for National Policy. Lost 2022 Republican gubernatorial primary. ballotpedia.org
Ballotpedia and Gongwer News Service, Rep. Jamie Thompson. Republican, Michigan House District 28 (Monroe and Wayne counties), Brownstown Township. Licensed Practical Nurse. Re-elected November 5, 2024, defeating Democrat Janise Robinson. Vice Chair, House Health Policy Committee. ballotpedia.org
MiCOURT Case Search, 44th Circuit Court, Howell. Ambrose Sullivan v. David Vega and Vega Group Inc., Case ID 2017-0000029572-NI. Default judgment entered June 29, 2018. Last docket entry: garnishment disclosure, March 8, 2021. No public record documents the judgment as satisfied. Judge of Record: Hon. Michael P. Hatty.
Michigan Board of Elections, Michigan Transparency Network (MiTN). Michigan Secretary of State campaign finance filings underlying all Transparency USA data cited in this report. mi-boe.entellitrak.com
Clutch Justice, “What Happened to Ambrose Sullivan,” June 11, 2026. Documents the 2016 crash, forensic record, sentencing, Jeffrey Vega non-prosecution, Corrigan network, Metz attorney connection, Johnsen campaign finance relationship, civil case, and faith network. clutchjustice.com
Williams, Rita. The Vega Network, Part 2: $81,690 in Campaign Funds, One Unsatisfied Judgment, Clutch Justice (June 11, 2026), https://clutchjustice.com/2026/06/11/vega-media-network-michigan-republicans/.
Williams, R. (2026, June 11). The Vega network, part 2: $81,690 in campaign funds, one unsatisfied judgment. Clutch Justice. https://clutchjustice.com/2026/06/11/vega-media-network-michigan-republicans/
Williams, Rita. “The Vega Network, Part 2: $81,690 in Campaign Funds, One Unsatisfied Judgment.” Clutch Justice, 11 June 2026, clutchjustice.com/2026/06/11/vega-media-network-michigan-republicans/.
Williams, Rita. “The Vega Network, Part 2: $81,690 in Campaign Funds, One Unsatisfied Judgment.” Clutch Justice, June 11, 2026. https://clutchjustice.com/2026/06/11/vega-media-network-michigan-republicans/.
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