LANSING — Before we get into how the race for governor unfolded this week, we felt it was important to state the definitive number of candidates in this crowded primary so far. There are eleven (11).
They are: Articia Bomer, Mike Brown, Austin Chenge, James Craig, Tudor Dixon, Ryan Kelley, Ralph Rebant, Kevin Rinke, Bob Scott, Garrett Soldano, and Evan Space.
We won’t be passing any blame for struggling to keep track. They are making it tough as they all continue to remain mum on the supremely anti-choice developments happening in Texas and Governor Whitmer and Sen Erika Geiss’ push to decriminalize abortion in state law.
Now on to James Craig. The MIGOP insider favorite is gearing up for a major reboot of his campaign with a series of “campaign kickoff” events in the hopes it will make Michiganders forget how much of a mess things have been for the Detroit Dodger so far.
According to Deadline Detroit, he has 8 events scheduled next week. That’s a lot of times to repeat the same “scripted, canned talking points,” but he hasn’t been on Fox News since August 19th so that’s probably opened up the rehearsal schedule a bit.
Maybe Craig was able to come up with some new material sourced from that listening tour that totally happened to hear from Michiganders about the issues they care about (emphasis ours). Not having any evidence to support whether the tour happened at all earned Craig some squints from the Detroit Free Press. And the Detroit Metro Times hit him with a blunt headline ahead of next week’s events: “James Craig is pretending he hasn’t announced he’s running for governor yet.”
Brutal, and absolutely not the type of coverage any candidate would want ahead of their big brand reset. But hey, they don’t call it a reset for nothing.
Smelling weakness in the water, and having nothing to lose (except maybe the $10 million he’s already pledged to throw at this vanity project), this week businessman Kevin Rinke became the 11th candidate to enter the race. We’re contemplating starting an undercard roundup series.
Speaking of candidates angling for attention, Garrett Soldano is getting more bold with his anti-Craig subtext, stating in a fundraising email this week that “the GOP establishment still believes they can coronate a weak RINO candidate who has never taken a stand against Gretchen Whitmer.” No dissension from us on that, but just a small note: unlike the anti-vaxx screeds that got you banned from YouTube, ‘James Craig’ doesn’t trip any mod alarms so feel free to just say his name.
Have a great weekend from all of us at MDP!
