Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette won the Republican nomination for governor on Tuesday night, defeating Lt. Gov. Brian Calley and others.
Schuette received the endorsement of President Trump, whose influence was being tested in multiple primaries and a special election Tuesday. “I am bringing back your jobs and Bill will help,” Trump tweeted in support of his preferred candidate.
Trump narrowly won Michigan in 2016, becoming the first Republican presidential nominee to do so since George H.W. Bush in 1988. Schuette will now go on to face a competitive race against the Democratic nominee Gretchen Whitmer to succeed Gov. Rick Snyder, a fellow Republican, who is term-limited. Trump’s job approval ratings have slipped in Michigan since he won the White House.
Democrats considered Whitmer the stronger general election candidate, but she was pushed to the left by progressive opponents during a tough primary of her own.
“With Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan Democrats have chosen a far-left politician committed to raising taxes and reversing job growth,” said Republican Governors Association communications director Jon Thompson. “If elected, Whitmer would bring back the same failed anti-jobs agenda that led to nearly 15 percent unemployment and years of economic decline under Jennifer Granholm. Voters understand that Michigan cannot afford to go backwards and will reject Whitmer at the ballot box this November.”
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., is also up for re-election this year. She is one of 10 Democrats seeking another term in a state Trump carried, though she is not one of the more vulnerable of them.
