Following reports that Betsy DeVos and her entire family are expected to spend upwards of “30 million” to prop up Dixon’s campaign, the special interest PAC they’ve directed the most funds to is out with another ad trying to distract from Dixon’s wrong-for-Michigan agenda.
To date, outside groups and Republican gubernatorial candidates have already spent more than $16 million to push bogus attacks against Governor Whitmer this cycle. Here are the facts:
Michigan Families United is the Latest Special Interest PAC to Throw Hundreds of Thousands Behind DeVos Sellout Tudor Dixon
Prepared to bankroll Tudor Dixon’s campaign at any rate necessary, the DeVos family has already “contributed more than $4 million to outside groups,” $1 million of which went to Michigan Families United, a PAC “shrouded in secrecy” that runs the majority of the airwave interference propping up Dixon’s campaign.
But the DeVoses aren’t alone. After they publicly lined up behind her, 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.
While Tudor Dixon Would Slash Funding, Governor Whitmer is Making Historic Investments In Law Enforcement And Public Safety
While Tudor Dixon pushes a dangerous budget proposal that would slash funding for law enforcement, Governor Whitmer has been working to keep communities safe. Last year, she announced the MI Safe Communities Plan to provide $75 million to increase public safety funding, including funding for the recruiting, training, and retaining of police officers in local departments and removing illegal guns from our streets.
In the newest budget, Whitmer secured funding to recruit more law enforcement officers and expand training, in addition to $100 million to protect the retirement of Michigan State Troopers. Previously, Whitmer signed a bipartisan budget in 2021 that included a 12 percent funding increase for Michigan State Police including millions for officer recruitment and training, body cams, and to increase patrols on secondary roads.
Since taking office, Whitmer has increased Michigan State Police funding by nearly $100 million, signing two budgets that provided over $820 million in funding for the Department Of State Police.
Governor Whitmer Has Led Michigan to It’s Biggest Manufacturing Boom in Decades
Since the first year Whitmer became governor, Michigan has experienced the “biggest manufacturing boom since the recovery from the 2008 recession” and has maintained #1 ranking for automotive manufacturing.
Since Whitmer took office, more than 25,000 new auto jobs have been secured. This includes the 6,500 jobs created as a result of Fiat Chrysler’s 2019 decision to build an auto assembly plant in Detroit – a $4.5 billion investment in the region and the first plant in the city in almost three decades.
Building on that success, Governor Whitmer landed a $7 billion investment in Michigan auto manufacturing, the largest in GM history, creating and retaining 5,000 jobs, while generating thousands more jobs in the community and producing $28.8 billion in new personal income for Michigan families. She also secured another investment of nearly $2 billion to expand electric vehicle battery production in Holland, supporting over a thousand good-paying jobs, and she recently brought in a $2 billion investment from Ford that will support 3,200 good-paying, union jobs in Michigan.
Governor Whitmer Has Delivered Major Wins for Michigan Small Business Owners
Governor Whitmer is growing Michigan’s economy by cutting taxes for small businesses and investing hundreds of millions to support jobs right here at home.
In December 2021, Governor Whitmer signed legislation allowing small business owners to pay income taxes at the business rather than individual level – a massive reform that will equal an estimated $200 million in annual tax savings for hundreds of thousands of eligible businesses. In another move to keep building gains for Michigan’s robust economic recovery, she also signed an economic package that included a $75 million tax cut for small businesses.
To connect small businesses with local talent, Whitmer set up free virtual job fairs that have connected over 2,600 employers and 9,900 job seekers. The Governor additionally created nearly 1,500 apprenticeships in new sectors with an emphasis on recruiting Michiganders from historically underrepresented groups, while addressing labor shortages. Under her leadership, Michigan experienced the fastest small business growth in 23 years as they added nearly 170,000 jobs and reported increased revenues by 24% in 2021. In line with this robust growth, roughly 150,000 new small business applications were received that year, up nearly two-thirds from 2019.
Tudor Dixon’s Dangerous Anti-Abortion Extremism Makes No Exceptions for Rape, Incest, or the Life of the Mother
Tudor Dixon stated that a child victim of incest and rape was the “perfect example” of someone who would not have access to an abortion, then doubled down on the callous statement by saying “I’m not hiding from it,” then – only after she faced considerable scrutiny – undermined her own attempt to paper over her comments by saying that her opposition to exceptions for rape and incest stems from the belief that there’s “healing through that baby.”
Dixon is backed by out-of-state special interests like Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-choice group with a mission to explicitly “end abortion” for her dangerous views. She is a staunch supporter of the currently dormant 1931 abortion ban that criminalizes abortion, makes felons out of reproductive health care providers and provides no exceptions for rape or incest. She has plainly stated that she is against all exceptions to abortion, even in cases or rape and incest, or when the health of the mother is at risk. Referring to the 1931 ban as a “good law,” Dixon has also committed to support new restrictions on abortion as governor.
Tudor Dixon Sold Out to Do Betsy DeVos’ Bidding and Rewrite Michigan’s Constitution So She Can Shortchange Our Kids
Tudor Dixon has repeatedly pledged to decimate public education funding by any means necessary.
Last year, she voiced her support for “the latest effort by legislative Republicans to create a school voucher system in Michigan” and vowed to sign the attempt to privatize education and steal $500 million annually from public schools into law as governor.
Dixon also announced that repealing Michigan’s constitutional ban on using public money for private education was a top priority for her campaign. Dixon said she “absolutely” backed a tax plan that would slash $3.5 billion from public schools.
MDP spokesperson Rodericka Applewhaite issued the following statement:
“Bankrolled by the DeVos family, special interest groups continue to line up behind Tudor Dixon in the hopes their TV ad buys will be enough to distract Michiganders from her wrong-for-Michigan agenda. Our working families can do better than a candidate who would eliminate reproductive freedom, decimate public education, and undermine the massive strides Governor Whitmer has made to keep Michigan first.”
