Happy Friday! Or if you’re Tudor Dixon and Shane Hernandez, happy final ~24 hours to whip votes for the floor confirmation you’re totally not worried about one bit. Here’s where things stand as a state Republican party that has “almost totally bungled” the opportunity to make gains this cycle prepares to gather in Lansing for a convention projected to be even more dramatic than the last.
Tudor Dixon is Straight Up Not Having a Nice Time
“Scarce on the campaign trail.” “Allow[ing] the narrative to take hold that she’s not working hard.” “Must kick campaign into gear.” “Mired in discussions about her rigid anti-abortion policies.” Sourced from the “second tier” of primary candidates. Wholly unsupported by former frontrunner James Craig, who said he’d rather vote third party than back her campaign. Left to wrangle the helm of a party that is insurmountably “fractured, and limping along into the fall election,” so much in fact that Republicans interested in preserving access to reproductive freedom are defecting from backing her bid.
In a word, things are Decidedly Not GreatTM for DeVos sellout Tudor Dixon. Her special interest support has done little to cover up the fact that she’s been barely seen on the trail and gripped by intraparty battles to even get the running mate she wants on the ballot. Two of her former opponents, Garrett Soldano and Ryan Kelley, both flirted with making last minute floor appeals to be her running mate, managing to cause considerable chaos even though they ultimately passed on a run. A third, Ralph Rebandt, continues to charge ahead with his attempted coup scheduled for tomorrow – and he told MIRS he’s convinced he has the votes.
Meanwhile, even if Hernandez emerges victorious tomorrow, he’s made it quite clear that he’ll have to be dragged from his current day job kicking and screaming to be on the trail full time: “If I have to campaign full time, I will campaign full time.” Apparently the same is true of Dixon, who has scarcely been seen on the trail or interviewing with Michigan media in the three weeks since the primary.
The Battles Ahead
Even if the Dixon-Hernandez ticket manages to get past Saturday unscathed, there are plenty of icebergs left on the horizon for this dinghy. First, the gubernatorial candidate and her equally extreme running mate will have to grapple with the fact that their wrong-for-Michigan agenda only grows more toxic to real Michiganders by the day, especially on the topic of preserving access to reproductive freedom for millions of women and families.
Still struggling to regain her footing from her callous comments calling a 14-year-old child raped by her uncle the “perfect example” of someone she’d force pregnancy on, Dixon managed to make it even worse by explaining that her opposition to exceptions for rape and incest – even for child victims of sexual asault – stems from the belief that there’s “healing through that baby.” Dixon’s statement dropped so many jaws to the floor even Newsmax tried to bail her out with a chance to clean up the crudeness which she of course, completely blew through, vowing for the nth time to uphold Michigan’s dangerous 1931 abortion ban that criminalizes abortion, makes felons out of reproductive health care providers and provides no exceptions for rape or incest.
But it isn’t just abortion. As MDP pointed out this week, Dixon’s agenda is backwards in every conceivable way, from her DeVos-backed crusade to decimate public education to her unwavering commitment to relitigate the past and shoulder countless conspiracy theories about the electoral process. On that last point, the pilot of new MDP series ‘The diXon Files’ is now streaming.
Dixon’s Special Interest Brinks Truck
The DeVoses are betting the special interest barn on Tudor Dixon, as evidenced by the “more than $4 million” they’ve already funneled to outside groups to date and the upwards of “30 million” they are expected to light on fire for the next 74 days in what is shaping up to be “one of the most expensive midterms fights yet.”
The primary benefactor of their financial exploits is Michigan Families United, a PAC “shrouded in secrecy” that runs the majority of the airwave interference propping up Dixon’s campaign. Using the $1 million dollar cash influx they got from the “kingmakers in Michigan politics” within the last reporting period p and God knows what since, they issued yet another TV ad trying to distract from Dixon’s harmful policies for working families.
For those keeping the tally at home, PACs supporting Dixon funded by other “deep-pocketed donors” were able to spend “a combined $2.18 million” in her favor to drag her through the bitter primary. This outpaces Dixon’s own advertising spending 20 times over and even surpasses what she raised for her campaign in total.
Since the latest financial report, one PAC put five figures on the radio, another threw in $100,000, a different one “reserved $103,000 worth of airtime,” Susan B. Anthony List announced they would be parachuting in six figures.
