MDP Attacks MIGOP’s Latest Attempt to Distract From Disastrous Field of Candidates

LANSING — Over the weekend, Michigan Republicans shamelessly dove in head first with an ad based on false attacks critiquing Governor Whitmer’s COVID-19 response despite GOP lawmakers never making an effort to craft a plan to combat this pandemic.

As should be painfully obvious by now, Republicans in Michigan know they are running out of time to find a legitimate candidate to run against Whitmer’s strong record. They naively think pushing this false narrative themselves will hide the fact that they don’t have an actual candidate to deliver. Not only have potential top Republicans like Candice Miller and Ronna McDaniel passed on a run, their next best guy has an 0-2 record statewide, and the primary is currently packed to the gills with weak fringe candidates.

It’s no accident that the GOP gubernatorial primary field is so shallow. Party leadership just can’t seem to course-correct and focus on recruitment, spending all their time in Lansing pushing through a disastrous slate of anti-voter bills. Additionally, Governor Whitmer has stayed focused on exhibiting leadership at every turn of this pandemic:

  • Detroit Metro Times: University of Michigan Research Shows Whitmer’s Tough Coronavirus Measures Saved Lives. “Using U-M COVID-19 modeling data, researchers compared coronavirus cases and public health measures following the “Pause to Save Lives.” The modeling estimated that between Nov. 15 and Jan. 8, about 109,000 COVID-19 cases were prevented. Accounting for Michigan’s 2.6% rate of fatality, that means 2,800 lives were saved.”
  • Detroit Free Press: Data Shows Whitmer’s COVID-19 Restrictions Worked: How Michigan Compared to Nearby States. “a Detroit Free Press review found Michigan’s pandemic orders helped drive down COVID-19 cases. The state’s reported COVID-19 cases per capita were not as severe as those in surrounding states where restrictions were not as stringent or in place as long.”
  • Bridge Michigan: Michigan’s Bold Move to COVID Vaccines for People Over 50 Leads Nation. “Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s announcement that people 50 and over with an underlying health condition or disability could get a COVID vaccine starting Monday — and anyone over 50 beginning March 22 — also opens eligibility to age groups that comprise 97 percent of the more than 15,500 people who have died from the virus in Michigan.”

Instead of doing anything to assist with these efforts, Michigan Republicans have opted to hurl weak bad faith attacks. Recently, they took to Twitter to ask why Gov. Whitmer was “just now getting the vaccine” (despite it being extremely well-documented that she received her first Pfizer shot on April 6th) and didn’t selfishly opt to line-skip the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions.

“In the face of a pandemic, the only thing Governor Whitmer has exhibited is pure leadership,”said Rodericka Applewhaite, MDP spokesperson. “She has listened to scientific and medical experts, successfully lobbied the federal government for additional personnel and resources to ramp up vaccinations, gotten 7 million shots in arms statewide, and allocated billions in federal dollars to distribute vaccines faster and give frontline workers a much-needed raise. Meanwhile, Republicans have continued to prioritize partisanship over action — attaching poison pills to relief dollars and inexplicably throwing all their weight behind things like the Big Lie, a baseless voter-intimidating crusade that is completely unrelated to stopping this virus and getting our state back on track.”

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