Michigan’s upcoming GOP gubernatorial primary doesn’t offer voters competing conservative visions for the state’s future. Instead, the contest appears poised to test President Donald Trump’s strength among his party’s base in a battleground state he has both won and lost.
Just days before absentee voting began in the state, Trump intervened in the race with his endorsement of U.S. Rep. John James, of Shelby Township, on June 22, saying he “has proven that he has the Courage and Wisdom to deliver strong results for the incredible people of his wonderful State, and our Nation.” Mere hours after Trump’s announcement, Michigan Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, dropped his bid for governor, joining other Republicans who previously criticized James but announced their support for him after the Trump endorsement. Former Attorney General Mike Cox and businessman Perry Johnson promised to stay in the fight for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.
Some have cast James as the all-but-assured nominee now that he has Trump’s endorsement. Most Trump-backed candidates for governor have won their primaries this year, according to election tracker Ballotpedia.
“It was already most likely his, but now with the Trump endorsement it is going to make it hard for any other candidate … to come out of this primary who is not John James,” said Andrea Bitely, founder and principal at Bitely Communications who previously served as chief communications officer for former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s since-ended independent campaign for governor.
But Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel, in a statement, pointed to losses in Iowa and Georgia for Trump’s picks in GOP contests to declare the “MAGA primary far from over.”
After previously calling Trump’s support “invaluable” in a Republican primary, Johnson, in a Facebook post, celebrated GOP voters who have rejected Trump’s endorsed candidates, saying they “chose the candidate they believed could actually win.” Johnson cited Trump’s track record of picking election losers in Michigan. “President Trump received bad advice yet again,” he said. “If we want a Republican governor in Michigan, defeating John James in this primary is critical.”
Every Trump-backed Republican running for statewide office in Michigan has prevailed in the primary but none went on to win in November. Trump, in his bids for president, won the state in 2016 and 2024 but lost in 2020.
Not arguing over policy
Even as the Republican candidates have fought over their loyalty to Trump ahead of the upcoming Tuesday, Aug. 4, primary, the intraparty contest has displayed unity on a policy agenda for Michigan.
The Republican candidates have centered their campaigns on similar promises. For instance, they all want to eliminate the state income tax — pitching it as a form of economic relief that will spur population growth — and lower property taxes.
“I think the issue they all seem to be fighting with each other about is who Donald Trump loves more,” said Allie Walker, president of communications firm Truscott Rossman, before Trump weighed in on the race.
Kristin Combs, a Republican operative and founder of the Lansing-based political consulting firm Bright Spark Strategies, echoed Walker. “They’re all trying to be the bigger fan of Trump, the bigger champion of Trump policies,” she said before Trump endorsed James.
The candidates have all sung from the president’s songbook, spreading election disinformation and vowing an immigration crackdown.
Democrats have cast the midterm election as a referendum on Trump’s policies. But Republican political consultant Jamie Roe says voters in Michigan will look forward, not backward this fall. “I think that this is going to be a referendum on the direction voters want to take our state in the future,” Roe said.
The GOP nominee will face the winner of the Democratic primary between Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson.
Republican candidates have cast the choice in dire terms as they argue Michigan needs a conservative leader to replace Whitmer. “Our state’s going to s—,” Cox told the Detroit Free Press Editorial Board in an interview. “Michigan is on fire,” said James in his interview. “Michigan’s government is pathetic,” Johnson says in a campaign video in which he promises to “save our state.”
In their pitch to turn Michigan around, each candidate touts a biography they say provides a unique electoral strength.
Cox moves off the political sidelines
The last time Cox — a Livonia Republican — ran for office was in 2010 when he lost the GOP gubernatorial primary. As he mounts a return to politics, he is quick to note that he is the only Republican running for governor who has ever won statewide.
Michigan voters twice elected him to serve as attorney general, an office he held from 2003-10. Before that, he worked as a Wayne County prosecutor and led its Homicide Unit. On the campaign trail, Cox has highlighted his prosecutorial background and agenda to curb violent crime in Michigan. If elected governor, he said public safety would be a priority. “Cox recognizes safety as the foundation for jobs, education, and prosperity and will work every day as Governor to make Michigan safe again,” his campaign platform reads.
While businessman Johnson is the main self-funded candidate in the race, Cox has also poured millions of his own cash into his campaign. Cox ‒ despite his tenure in Michigan politics – has tried to paint his opponents as the insiders in the race. In one ad, he attacks James and Johnson as “career politicians and elites who are failing us.”
After Trump endorsed James, Cox touted his record supporting the president and expressed confidence in his campaign. “I look forward to being President Trump’s favorite governor when I win,” Cox said in a statement.
James ‒ the congressman railing against DC in pivot to state
James is the only candidate in the race who has served in Congress but he has tried to distance himself from the moniker of a Washington, DC candidate. “Well, we know Washington’s full of crap,” James says in one campaign ad. “I hate politics, but I love this country. I love my state,” James told the Detroit Free Press Editorial Board.
James – a conservative darling – makes regular appearances on Fox News and has received financial backing from members of the DeVos family, the wealthy west Michigan family with a history of backing Republican causes.
On policy, James is the only candidate in the race with an agenda that heavily focuses on Whitmer’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, casting it as a government overreach in need of a remedy even years later. His proposed “COVID Legal Enforcement Accountability & Relief” or “CLEAR Initiative” promises to refund individuals and businesses fined for COVID-related violations.
After losing two U.S. Senate elections in 2018 and 2020 in which he had Trump’s endorsement, James won a competitive seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022 for part of Macomb County and Oakland County’s Rochester and Rochester Hills. His bid for governor leaves open the race for his seat.
A recent ad from the pro-James PAC Mission Michigan casts Cox and Johnson as insufficiently loyal to Trump compared with James, garnering pushback from the congressman’s opponents. James’ camp has gone beyond the ad wars with a last-ditch attempt to derail Johnson’s campaign that floundered in late May when election officials certified the candidates for the ballot. Citing an affidavit from a Johnson campaign consultant, the pro-James PAC Mission Michigan alleged deficiencies with the petition sheets containing Michigan voters’ signatures submitted by Johnson to land a spot on the August primary ballot.
The affidavit stated that the petition sheets were run through a printer to add a statement that the Johnson campaign paid for them after voters had signed them. Mission Michigan said the disclosure is legally required even though James’ petition sheets lacked the information altogether, according to the Michigan Department of Elections.
The state’s elections panel — which wasn’t provided a copy of the affidavit — dismissed calls to investigate Johnson’s petitions. Michigan Elections Director Jonathan Brater said election law did not provide a basis for rejecting Johnson’s petitions because of an alleged retroactive addition of a disclosure. But Brater didn’t rule out the possibility that it violated the state’s campaign finance law. The Bureau of Elections never received a campaign finance complaint against Johnson for his petition sheets.
The certification battle was just one twist in the ongoing campaign war between James and Johnson.
Johnson promises to run government like a business
Not long after launching his campaign, Johnson sued James for suggesting to voters in a campaign logo that he is the incumbent. Johnson won a preliminary injunction barring James from using a “John James Governor” logo.
Johnson, of Bloomfield Hills, has never held elected office. He has used his wealth to self-fund a campaign in which he argues that he can bring a business acumen to state government.
The self-proclaimed “quality guru,” known for his work with the auto industry at the turn of the 21st century, has promised to run state government like a business. He has proposed, for instance, a “Michigan Efficiency Government Audit” or “MEGA Audit” which would enlist “private-sector efficiency experts” to review state government and identify opportunities to cut spending and eliminate ineffective programs.
Johnson has poured his own money into the race with more than $23 million in ad spending, according to AdImpact data obtained by the news outlet Bridge Michigan. He has framed his bid as a form of philanthropy, saying he wouldn’t take the governor’s salary if elected. “… I’m at a point in my life when I want to give something back,” he said in an interview on Michigan Public’s podcast “It’s Just Politics”.
Johnson ran for governor in 2022, but he didn’t make the ballot after a signature scandal ended his bid, leading to criminal convictions for leaders of circulator companies that defrauded the GOP campaigns.
The next election cycle, he launched a long-shot, short-lived bid for president before endorsing Trump. From the stage of the Republican National Convention in 2024, Johnson praised Trump. “He has the heart of a lion, the brain of a genius and he’s done it before. President Trump is ready to save our country to make America great again again,” Johnson said.
But to “make Michigan great again” – as all of the Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidates have vowed – Johnson has bet against the president’s electoral strategy this time.
Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan GOP primary for governor sees fierce fights but little debate
Reporting by Clara Hendrickson, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Clara Hendrickson, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
