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EXCLUSIVE – Tudor Dixon, a GOP candidate challenging Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, received a new endorsement on Tuesday ahead of next month’s primary from a conservative political action committee that’s ramping up criticism toward Whitmer for shooting down $20 million in pro-life adoption support.
Save Michigan PAC endorsed Dixon on Tuesday for governor of Michigan, saying she “will take a disruptive and innovative approach to get Michigan’s economy back on track.”
“Save Michigan PAC will be investing heavily to ensure that Michigan has the right,” the PAC said.
“Tudor Dixon has our full and complete endorsement,” Michael Markey, a financial adviser whose own campaign for governor was disqualified amid allegations of fraudulent petition signatures, said in a statement Tuesday, throwing his support behind Dixon before the upcoming Aug. 2 primary.
So far, the GOP primary in Michigan has been mired by scandal.
Markey was among five GOP gubernatorial candidates disqualified after the Michigan Supreme Court upheld allegations from the state bureau of elections that they submitted tens of thousands of forged signatures on nominating petitions. They reportedly spent $11 million collectively on their bid for office.
Tudor Dixon, Republican gubernatorial candidate for Michigan, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, U.S., on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022.
(Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The FBI later arrested the former GOP frontrunner in the governor’s race, Ryan Kelley, in June on a misdemeanor charge stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Kelley insists that he will be exonerated and is still in the gubernatorial race, along with other GOP contenders, Garrett Soldano and Kevin Rinke.
But many of the state’s conservative power players have thrown new support behind Dixon, who has received endorsements from the state Chamber of Commerce, the anti-abortion group Michigan Right to Life and the state branch of Americans for Prosperity. Most notably, PACs funded in part by the family of former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have raised almost $2.6 million to boost her campaign.
“Tudor has shown as a businesswoman in Michigan’s steel industry that she is an innovator and a disruptor, and exactly who we need to defeat Wrecken Gretchen,” Markey said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “As we saw just yesterday, Wrecken Gretchen repealed $20 million dollars of funding to crisis pregnancy centers and adoption services, we need someone in office who stands for life and for Michigander families; Tudor, a mom of four, is that candidate. Dixon will be a fearless fighter for life, restoring business in Michigan, and getting our economy back on track. We will be doing all we can to get her into the Governor’s office, including spending well into the six digits to support her campaign.”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer addresses the press before signing the final piece of a $76 billion state budget into law, Wednesday, July 20, 2022 in Detroit. Whitmer largely backed the plan she signed off on Wednesday but nixed money that Republicans had funneled toward anti-abortion causes.
(AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
A new ad, exclusively provided to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, touts Dixon as a Michigan mom on a mission and a successful businesswoman who became a leader in the state’s steel industry. It says she’s a breast cancer survivor, working mother of four, and a conservative activist “who stood up against indoctrination in our schools” and “fought Governor Whitmer’s disastrous lockdowns.”
“Now Tudor Dixon is taking the fight to “Wrecken” Gretchen, inspiring and empowering Michigan’s working families,” the ad says, showing Dixon during a Fox News appearance. The ad concludes with a clip of former President Donald Trump praising Dixon as a “very popular” candidate for governor.
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The new video comes after Whitmer used her line-item veto to reject funding in the state budget for the 2023 fiscal year for pro-life causes set aside by Republicans, who control both chambers of Michigan’s state legislature. That included nixing $10 million for a marketing program promoting adoption over abortion, $3 million for organizations that promote “childbirth and alternatives to abortion,” and $100,000 designated for the legal defense of a ban on gender reassignment surgeries or therapies while people are in state prisons. Abortion is still legal in Michigan after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
