LANSING — This upcoming Tuesday, April 7 marks one year since two-time statewide loser John James launched his campaign for governor—but this past week has been one of the worst in a campaign that’s been riddled with bad weeks.
Let’s take a look back at John James’ very rough week:
- On Saturday, John James was met with disapproving boos from fellow Republicans at the Michigan GOP’s convention. Gongwer News Service reported after the convention that Republican delegates were “intrigued by [Perry] Johnson’s rise” and MIRS reported that Johnson was “hosting the most popular party” of the convention. Watch Republicans boo James HERE.
- On Sunday, The Detroit News reported that James has “missed about twice as many roll call votes as any other Michigan member of Congress since the start of 2025,” including on bipartisan legislation to expand affordable housing, stand up to China, and protect the Great Lakes by reauthorizing a vital cleanup program.
- On Monday, MIRS reported on a new internal poll from Perry Johnson’s campaign that showed the Republican primary in a dead heat, which came after a poll released last week showed James at 23%, Johnson at 20%, and the rest of the candidates in the single digits. Notably, among Michigan Republicans who classify themselves as Trump/MAGA Republicans, Johnson has a 24-20% lead over James.
- On Wednesday, Michigan Advance reported how James said in a dire fundraising text that his campaign “could be over” soon and might “crash and burn.” Perry Johnson said that the James campaign was “collapsing” after the fundraising text.
- On Thursday, TMZ published a Distill Social photo of John James vacationing in Turks and Caicos, which comes after James and House Republicans rejected a bipartisan bill to fund TSA and other agencies.
- On Friday, Chad Livengood of The Detroit News reported that after TMZ published photos of John James in Turks and Caicos, James then posted a video of himself at a gun range… from August of last year. Livengood noted that James also posted a picture of himself at the Detroit Tigers Opening Day, but he’s still in Turks and Caicos. TMZ reported in a second story on Friday afternoon that James was “taking his best shot at distracting voters in his home state from his island vacation.”
“John James has had a lot of really bad weeks in this campaign, but this one might take the cake for his worst week of all,” said Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Derrick Honeyman. “After being on the campaign trail for an entire year, John James has nothing to show for it and is locked in an increasingly messy and wide open Republican primary.”
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