Out-of-state billionaire with far right anti-Michigan agenda has pumped over one million dollars to save John James’ absent campaign and launch false attacks
It’s been a record-breaking 295 days since James has done an interview with MI TV, 188 days since answering a question from MI print media
As failed Senate candidate John James remains in hiding from Michiganders, he is set to be propped up (again) on the airwaves by a super PAC almost completely funded by an out-of-state billionaire with anti-Michigan values. The new ad buy, bankrolled by GOP mega-donor Dick Uihlein, is set to begin tomorrow and comes as James has refused to offer solutions for Michiganders facing unprecedented challenges due to the ongoing public health crisis.
The out-of-state billionaire responsible for the ad has a track record of backing candidates who “support the Trump agenda, sometimes veering even further to the right” – including John James who has said he stands with Trump “2,000%.” Instead of being available to press and voters in Michigan, James was cozying up to Uihlein earlier this month at Mar-a-Lago. Uihlein and his PAC support an extreme far-right agenda that would be bad for Michigan including repealing the Affordable Care Act which protects 1.7 million Michiganders with pre-existing conditions, abolishing the Department of Education, and undermining Michigan workers and the labor community.
“As John James comes under fire for hiding from Michiganders and failing to show leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis, another billionaire-funded group has swept in to prop him up on the airwaves. And it’s no surprise why – mega donors like Dick Uihlein and the DeVos family know James would be a reliable vote for their far-right agenda, and not for Michigan’s working families,” said Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Elena Kuhn.
Uihlein has already spent nearly $1 million on TV and digital ads attacking Senator Gary Peters and maxed out in contributions to James’ campaign this cycle. In the 2018 midterm elections, he spent $37.7 million, contributing $200,000 to James’ super PAC. Uihlein was accused of trying to “buy” a Senate seat in Wisconsin after he spent well over $20 million on a single race. Despite the spending, Uihlein had a “staggering losing streak.” Uihlein isn’t the only megadonor propping up James: the family of Betsy DeVos has given nearly $1 million to fund a super PAC responsible for misleading ads about Senator Peters’ record.
The Michigan Democratic Party launched JohnJamesRevealed.com to hold the failed U.S. Senate candidate accountable for his positions – including those made over the course of the 2018 campaign that he then tried to delete after losing that campaign. Since announcing he’d run again, just over six months after his last failed bid, James has been hiding from Michigan voters and refusing to answer questions from Michigan media.
