In Michigan’s GOP gubernatorial primary, three candidates remain: U.S. Rep. John James, former Attorney General Mike Cox and businessman Perry Johnson are vying for the support of their party’s voters in the Aug. 4 nominating contest.
Ahead of the primary, the Free Press Editorial Board endorses the candidate from each party we believe is most qualified to lead our state. The winner will be decided when the Republican and Democratic nominees face off in the Nov. 3 general election, and the editorial board will make a separate endorsement this fall.
(Former state House Speaker Tom Leonard dropped his bid in April, and state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt exited the race on June 22, after President Donald Trump’s coveted endorsement went to James earlier that day.)
Of the Republicans left in the race, we believe that JOHN JAMES is the best choice for GOP primary voters.
‘I will work with anybody’
James was an early entry into the governor’s race, and has generally been considered the front-runner since tossing his hat into the ring.
Over the last month, each of the Republican candidates sat for interviews with the Free Press Editorial Board. James, a veteran of the U.S. Army Rangers who has represented Michigan’s 10th Congressional District in the U.S. House since 2022, was the best prepared, displaying the most in-depth knowledge of the state’s problems and the policies he believes might solve them.
James says he’s driven by his strong sense of patriotism and his faith in God to deliver for his state and his nation. In a wide-ranging interview, he recounted a drive through his old Detroit neighborhood. Seeing a house that had burned decades before, he thought, “Somebody should do something.” And that still, quiet voice said, “You’re somebody. You can do something.”
During his time with the Free Press Editorial Board, James displayed the level-headed pragmatism of a candidate prepared to govern Michigan, not just Michigan Republicans.
“Michigan is in desperate need of experienced leadership that will put the politics aside and focus on execution,” James told the editorial board. “… This is not the time for games. I want to become governor of the State of Michigan, all 10 million of us … both peninsulas, east side, west side, Black, white, gay, straight, male, female, Democrat and Republican. We cannot save our state with one person, one party. We need all of us.”
It’s a heartening sentiment. But James’ demeanor with the editorial board was a sharp contrast to his campaign rhetoric, which portrays Michigan’s Democratic elected officials as corrupt, the state budget as rife with waste and fraud and our elections as unsafe.
“I hate politics, but I love this country. I love my state. And I’m most comfortable dispensing with the superfluous BS and just getting to the point of fixing things,” James told the Free Press. “I will work with anybody.”
James says he’ll seek buy-in
Schools are Michigan’s most urgent challenge, and James says he wants to expand school choice while bolstering public schools. Because public school funding is linked to enrollment, that’s a difficult prospect.
He says teachers need better training and higher pay, and that more state funding should be spent in classrooms, but believes schools need more accountability. He also supports intensive tutoring for students who are falling behind.
James correctly identified Michigan’s byzantine hyperlocal school district governance ― the state has more than 800 school districts, some serving the same small communities, with duplicative central office functions ― as a source of unnecessary expenditures. Past school district consolidation efforts have drawn fierce opposition from local communities. James believes the severity of Michigan’s education crisis ― student reading proficiency here ranks 44th in the nation ― and frank, respectful conversations will win buy-in: “My mom always told me, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go with others.’ And that’s how we’re ultimately successful.”
James has committed to expanding FOIA to the governor’s office. Michigan is one of two states in which the governor and Legislature aren’t subject to the state Freedom of Information Act requiring disclosure of public documents.
As health care costs skyrocket, James says hospital consolidation and health insurers merit more scrutiny, and has backed the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act. But he failed to address a reporter’s question about how he’d provide care to Michiganders who’ve lost health insurance because of cuts to Medicaid in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, saying that he believes that Medicaid can offer more generous benefits to the deserving if “fraudsters” are kicked off the rolls. Medicaid fraud by beneficiaries of care is extremely rare.
James also says he’d divert dollars currently spent by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to early childhood education and support for mothers.
He has touted his work in Congress to help bring a new fighter mission to Selfridge, resources for TACOM and infrastructure improvement dollars for his Macomb County district.
Caveat emptor
James carries significant negatives: He has won few plaudits during his time in the U.S. Congress. A March analysis found that he has missed the most votes of any member of Michigan’s congressional delegation, nearly 4.3% of roll call votes since taking office in 2023.
His candidacy has the vocal and valuable support of the DeVos family, whose members, including former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, have spent millions to expand school choice, despite the havoc charter schools have wreaked on traditional public schools.
James ― along with Cox and Johnson ― has been endorsed by Right to Life Michigan. James has referred to abortion as “genocide,” praised the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and in 2018 said he opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest, a position that’s out of line with the average Michigander ― Prop 3, enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution, passed in 2022 with 56% of the vote ― and even the average Michigan Republican.
When asked whether he disagrees with Trump on any point, James replied, “He likes Big Macs. I like Reubens.”
Were he elected, we’re not sure who’d take the office: the clear-eyed statesman, or the partisan provocateur. But we believe James, at least, is capable of performing the duties of a governor.
And the alternatives are worse.
The alternatives
Johnson, who became a millionaire by building a business that issued quality certifications to automakers in the 1980s, has spent $23.2 million of his own money on this year’s campaign. He’s enthusiastic about business efficiencies, but doesn’t seem to realize that running a state is very different from running a company, something fellow businessman-turned-politician Rick Snyder learned the hard way.
His promise to repeal the state income tax is nonsensical, and would strain the state’s ability to provide services. Johnson says his figures were generated by ChatGPT.
We believe Johnson is well-intentioned, but he simply is not qualified.
Cox, who was term limited out of office in 2010 (he ran unsuccessfully for governor that same year) ran a sprawling state agency through Great Recession-necessitated budget cuts, maintaining the AG’s office caseload. After leaving office, he started his own law firm, successfully representing former University of Michigan students who said they had been sexually abused by former university sports physician Robert Anderson.
Cox speaks with authority about some components of Michigan’s school crisis, but, like many of his fellows, insists the decline is driven by schools “teaching DEI, not ABC’s.” But in an interview with the Free Press Editorial Board, he refused to provide specific examples of how DEI is consuming classroom time.
“It’s trans ideology, right? It’s LGBTQTI, whatever, stuff,” Cox told a member of the editorial board. “And you and I both know exactly what I’m talking about. You’re playing dumb, when you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
It’s a disingenuous attack that betrays a disconnect with the hard work of Michigan teachers and the realities of classroom management.
Another Cox campaign slogan is “Make Michigan Great Again.” When asked in which year Michigan had been great, he offered 1950 ― 11 years before he was born ― an answer sure to dismay women, people of color and LGBTQ+ Michiganders, whose rights were nonexistent or sharply curtailed 76 years ago. Cox insists that his answer refers to jobs and quality schools, which he says should be open to people of all races, pointing to his early career decision to work in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office as evidence of his egalitarian views.
Despite all of this, Cox’s experience in executive office means he could’ve won our endorsement ― were it not for his temperament. His previous turn in public life was marked by unnecessary pugnacity, and it seems the years haven’t mellowed the former AG. Over the course of an hour-long interview, he bridled at commonplace questions about policy or his plans, frequently cut off his questioners mid-sentence and insisted he was correct on points of fact he’d gotten wrong.
An aggressive mien might work in the attorney general’s office, but Michigan is in troubled waters, and needs a governor who understands what’s worth fighting for.
How to vote
Local clerks mailed absentee ballots to Michigan voters June 25. Registered voters may cast ballots early, in person, in some Michigan communities starting July 6, and statewide from July 25 to Aug. 2 — check with your local clerk for your city’s early voting start date, location of early voting sites and absentee ballot dropboxes for absentee. And, of course, you can vote — and register to vote — in person on Aug. 4, Election Day.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Here’s the Free Press pick for GOP gubernatorial primary | Endorsement
Reporting by Detroit Free Press Editorial Board, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Detroit Free Press Editorial Board, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
