The mystery of Betty Jean Alexander, candidate for Michigan Senate

DETROIT (WJBK) - Who is Betty Jean Alexander. That's a question we've been trying to figure out all week after she pulled the a huge upset of a democratic incumbent in Tuesday's primary.

Betty Jean Alexander pulled the biggest upset in the state of Michigan Tuesday night, beating incumbent David Knezek for the 5th District state Senate primary. She did all this without even really running a campaign. 

So who is she? She's a single mom and is the sister-in-law of Lamar Lemmons, a Detroit school board member.

"She campaigned only through the phones, actually we campaigned for her, she did very little campaigning herself," Lemmons said.

We went to her neighborhood to ask neighbors if they've seen her because we couldn't get a hold of her. 

"She's new to the neighborhood and I must she that she is absolutely pleasant," Dawud Dunn, her neighbor, said. 

While she may seem like an unknown, we've done stories on her before. She filed for bankruptcy at one point in her life and was sued for unpaid rent or other debts. We found that information when she was a a candidate for the Detroit school board and, as of November 2016, her address was listed as the same home as Lamar Lemmons and Georgia Lemmons. All three were running for the school board that 

Lemmons says he ran her campaign without her lifting a finger.

We knocked on her door but didn't get an answer. We did get a text message from the busy single mom. She wants us to talk with Lemmons.

Political analyst Steve Hood says the real power behind Alexandar is Lemmons.

"When LeMar Lemmons was a state rep he was one of the most effective state reps there were. So, since he's pulling the strings I would say she's going to be extremely effective," Hood said. 

He said that sometimes, it comes down to the name, even if one is an incumbent and the other is unknown. 

The question now is will she follow through in her role. Hood says yes. 

We did reach Lemmons via text and he said Alexander told him that she could speak with us 'this weekend'.