The most important issue facing Michigan Republicans as they gear up to vote in the 2026 governor’s race is … who likes President Donald Trump the most?
You could be forgiven for thinking that, if you have seen any of the television ads from GOP gubernatorial candidates U.S. Rep. John James, businessman Perry Johnson and former Attorney General Mike Cox. In ad after ad, each candidate argues that he is the most supportive of the president, the true heir to Trump policies. (Trump has endorsed James.)
My read of the electorate is dramatically different. I believe people in Michigan are frustrated.
Grocery bills are higher. Gas still costs close to $4 a gallon. Car prices are through the roof. Housing’s not much better. Paychecks haven’t budged. The job market is nonexistent; people apply for hundreds of openings and never even get a call back or interview.
Colleges and universities, even in-state schools, are financially out of reach for more and more families. And for far too many, those who do make it through four years of higher ed can’t leave Michigan fast enough once they graduate.
What’s worse, graduates from Michigan colleges and universities aren’t just leaving for the glamorous locations like LA and New York, Texas and Florida. They’re leaving Michigan to take a job and start a family in Midwestern hotspots such as Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer may be leaving office with high approval ratings. But she is leaving behind a long to-do list. Improving third-grade reading scores. More jobs and better paychecks. A lot more affordable housing. Keeping our young people in Michigan. And attracting college graduates from other states to come to Michigan to work and live.
This should be the GOP’s year in Michigan. James, Johnson and Cox have clear paths to victory in November, but only if they can articulate visions to make life better and easier for families juggling parents, kids, too much month and not enough money.
A better role model
Nostalgia is a powerful narcotic. For far too long, candidates for office have promised Michigan voters a return to the good old days, when kids could walk right from high school to a good-paying factory job, complete with health care and a pension.
Those were good days. But the world has changed. Unfortunately, Michigan has not changed with the times. And as a result, our state is getting older, grayer and poorer.
Leaders like Lou Glazer at Michigan Future and Kurt Metzger, founder and former director of Data Driven Detroit, make a powerful case that Michigan must do a better job of educating our young people, attracting new talent from other states and around the world. In the process, we will transform our cities and urban areas into vibrant, robust, attractive locations that will serve as magnets for new investments and young workers.
For my money, Grand Rapids has done the best job of this, combining private investment with public spending to rebuild and reimagine downtown. I remember going to the old Pantlind Hotel in the ‘70s. You could have fired a cannon on Monroe Street and not hit anyone. Today, you can’t find a parking place. New bars and restaurants surround world-class hotels next to a rebuilt convention center. Meanwhile, up the hill on Medical Mile, Butterworth Hospital, the Van Andel Institute, the DeVos Children’s Hospital, the Meijer Heart Center and MSU’s Secchia Center have transformed this West Michigan city into a health care powerhouse.
Michigan needs to replicate that success many times over. Unfortunately, few other cities enjoy the private philanthropy that has fueled so much of the success enjoyed by Grand Rapids.
An unpopularity contest
Michigan government needs significant, deep-seated change and reform. Not just a laundry list of issues, but a bold new vision for a better Mitten state, something to ignite and excite voters from Monroe to Marquette.
Unfortunately, that’s not the message I am seeing in the television ads from James, Johnson and Cox. Instead, the candidates are tripping over one another trying to tell voters who is more devoted to President Trump.
Be careful what you wish for. Because whoever wins this primary will be yoked to Trump and to his policies – the war of choice in Iran, tariffs and his decision not to sign a housing bill.
According to The New York Times daily average of polls, 58% of voters disapprove of Mr. Trump’s performance, while only 39% approve. It’s hard to win an election when the person you hold out as a model has an approval rating that is upside down by 19 percentage points.
When pressed by Fox 2 Detroit moderator Roop Raj during a recent televised debate, none of the candidates could articulate any differences they have with Trump. I might have thought Trump’s Truth Social post likening former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama to apes or Trump calling a female reporter “Piggy” would have crossed a red line, but no one objected, so apparently all of that is OK.
Even former Republican Speaker Tom Leonard, when he was still running for governor, objected to Trump commuting former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s prison sentence for his crimes against the city. But apparently even that is not a bridge too far for James, Johnson or Cox.
There’s still time to change the narrative.
A lesson for Republicans
In 1992, two Republican heavyweights, state Sen. David Honigman and Oakland Circuit Judge Alice Gilbert, fought each other in a relentlessly negative primary campaign for Congress. Meanwhile, a little-known candidate by the name of Joe Knollenberg ran a positive, forward-looking campaign that focused on the issues that really mattered to voters. Guess what? Knollenberg won, even though he spent the least in the primary.
There’s a lesson there Republicans would be wise to study this election cycle. Before it’s too late.
Contributing columnist Rusty Hills is a past chair of the Michigan Republican Party, and is a lecturer at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters, and we may publish it online and in print.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Republicans are blowing their best chance to win Michigan | Opinion
Reporting by Rusty Hills, Contributing columnist / Detroit Free Press
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By Rusty Hills, Contributing columnist | USA TODAY Network
