Welcome to a very special edition of MDP’s weekly roundup. Here’s how things are shaping up as the 12 Republicans running for governor pull all the stops ahead of the MIGOP Mackinac conference that is currently getting underway and will be running through the rest of the weekend.
Projecting endorsement strength is certainly the name of the game as gubernatorial candidates jockey for the lead and prepare their elevator pitches to party insiders already in the bag for James Craig. Tudor Dixon spent the week trying to make the most out of her CPAC endorsement that came via a single tweet sent in the dead of night by American Conservative Chair Matt Schlapp.
And congratulations are in order to Mike Brown for locking up the big guy’s blessing. Nope, not that one — it’s still up for grabs unless you’re running for SOS or AG (sorry Tom!). We’re talking about Ted Nugent, of course. Your guess for how Brown, who hasn’t made any headlines since taking a swing at James Craig while announcing his run a month ago, managed to secure the “Motor City Madman”’s blessing is as good as ours.
But as they say, as goes *squints* …Michigan Bikers for Trump, so goes Michigan. This week the group’s state director Londa Gatt and member Doug threw their horsepower behind none other than Ryan Kelley. Per the email he sent to tout the support, we can confirm that Kelley could Harley contain his excitement for the momentum it builds for his campaign.
The week wasn’t as warm however for Garrett Soldano, who finally got banned from YouTube for spreading anti-vaxx disinformation several times. We tried to warn him! Soldano will no doubt be railing against the “Big Tech oligarchs” that violated his perceived 1st amendment right to fan the flames of a global public health crisis at his Mackinac counter-programming event taking place this Sunday in Antrim County. If not, you can catch him on increasingly obscure social platforms as he methodically bans himself from the whole internet.
And lastly, James Craig continues to earn headlines and negative attention for coming in hot with an anti-choice agenda so extreme it would make Texas do a spit take. This week, Detroit Metro Times and Deadline Detroit both noted how Craig said he would do everything in his power to ensure Michigan immediately reverts to criminalizing abortion should Roe v. Wade get overturned and his subsequent “unapologetic” double-down. The move earned him the ire of state Senators Erika Geiss and Stephanie Chang, along with several other reproductive healthcare advocates.
We’ll be waiting to see how else he steps in it up on the island. Have a great weekend.
