Over at The Hill, they appear to be trying to gin up some momentum for the reelection campaign of Governor Gretchen Whitmer by celebrating the announcement of a new group calling itself “Republicans for Whitmer.” This is ostensibly some sort of signal that the current Governor is attracting bipartisan support, suggesting that she’s actually far more popular than her sagging approval ratings earlier this year would suggest. (She was in the thirties in January and didn’t reach the break-even point until June.) But if you look a little more deeply into this announcement, you’ll see that it’s likely far more window dressing than substance. That doesn’t mean she might not still win another term handily, but it wouldn’t be due to a sudden outpouring of popularity among actual conservatives.
More than 150 Michigan Republicans launched a new campaign effort to boost the reelection prospects of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) against GOP opponent Tudor Dixon, who is backed by former President Trump.
Republicans for Whitmer is led by a leadership council of 35 Republicans from Michigan, including business leaders, former lawmakers and staff who served under former state GOP Govs. John Engler and Rick Snyder.
Bill Parfet, the chairman and CEO of commercial real estate company Northwood Group, said he was supporting Whitmer because she was seeking to build a common bridge between Democrats and Republicans.
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Imagine that, would you? 150 Michigan Republicans are supporting Whitmer. Of course, that’s out of a state with a population of just shy of ten million people, but who’s counting? They have a leadership council of 35 Republican business owners and former GOP staffers.
This group’s real makeup is pretty much the remnants of the never-Trumpers. And it’s not so much that they’re wild about Gretchen (most of them almost certainly are not), but that her opponent, Tudor Dixon, was endorsed by the Bad Orange Man. So obviously Dixon has to be opposed at all costs or it might come off looking like a win for Trump. As for the vast majority of actual Republicans in the state, keep in mind that Tudor Dixon won 80 of 83 counties in the primary. Enough said.
Whitmer spent the entire pandemic enacting some of the most draconian, authoritarian policies imaginable. And when she wasn’t doing that, she was pushing every woke, liberal initiative she could dream up. If there is anyone who typically voted Republican in the past who is supporting her now, it’s unclear why they haven’t simply switched their party registration and ordered an AOC t-shirt.
The real story is probably found in the polling history of his race. The RCP average still shows Whitmer with an 8.2-point lead over Dixon. It’s fluctuated a bit over the last six weeks but it hasn’t changed all that much. And it’s unlikely to see a huge shift now because a handful of never-Trumpers cut some commercials for her. This was always going to be a close race and a tough hill to climb for Dixon. There are enough weeks left for her to mount a late surge, but it will unfortunately not be terribly shocking if Whitmer sneaks over the finish line. Perhaps she can arrange to have someone pretend to kidnap her again if the numbers grow too close.
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