MICHIGAN, USA — Michigan's primary election is Aug. 2 and one of the hottest contests on the ballot is the Republican governor primary.
13 ON YOUR SIDE sat down with the candidates for governor to discuss a range of issues that are directly affecting Michiganders and asked for their opinion and possible solutions for these issues.
Today, we are highlighting Tudor Dixon, a businesswoman, breast cancer survivor and conservative media personality.
Dixon also built a career in Michigan's steel industry in the early 2000s.
Decision to run for Governor
Dixon's decision to run for governor began during the pandemic, when she was watching what was happening across the country. She noticed that things were handled differently in Michigan compared to other states and wanted to make a change.
"Businesses were coming to me and saying that they felt that they were struggling to actually move forward. They were they were struggling before this though, before COVID. And I'm a mom of four daughters, so I'm watching what's happening with kids in school and started to talk to folks and say, 'Who's going to run against Gretchen Whitmer?' And there didn't seem to be that typical politician. So we said, if we can build the right team, this is the time to do this. And turns out we were able to do that."
Michigan's Economy
The economy is a major concern for many Michiganders with high gas prices and inflation rates putting a strain on people across the state. Dixon thinks that Michigan can ease consumer prices by pushing back on the Federal Government and working to keep Enbridge's Line 5 open and pumping petroleum.
"Let's look at what we can do within the state as well, because we have a governor right now that is pushing to close down Line 5. So her energy policy is is in line with the Biden administration's energy policy, which is very detrimental for the state. It's key that we make sure that Line 5 is secure, that we go forward with building the tunnel, that we make sure that we have that pipeline available to us. And that will help us keep costs low. Because if we were to shut down Line 5, that would increase gas prices, and then that increases the cost of moving product throughout the state, which is ultimately what leads to higher prices in the grocery store in our stores."
Housing costs have been steadily increasing, causing more strain on Michiganders. Dixon hopes to reduce those costs by keeping Line 5 open, which will make it less expensive for people to live in the state, and combining that with increasing tourism to bring more dollars into the state and into Michiganders' wallets.
Dixon also discussed her thoughts on tax incentives for businesses to relocate or remain in Michigan.
"We've said that we want to look at all of those contracts right now. And I think there are several different ways to bring businesses into this state. When I've talked to businesses who have decided to leave or have decided to build their factories outside of the state, I've asked them what it was that caused them to move. They've never told me that it was the tax incentives or even energy costs. They've said we're in a race to start our companies right now to go up against our competitors. We want to choose a state that's in that race with us. So what does that mean? That means that they have other states coming to them and saying, we're going to streamline the process. So we have a shovel race ready site for you right here, we're going to help you get those permits, we're going to help you get all of your permits and licenses that you need to start your business. And we're gonna get in that race to make sure that you are producing product as quickly as you can. In Michigan, they're saying that they go from a state that tells them at two to three months to Michigan that says eight to nine, maybe even a year and so they choose to go outside of the state of Michigan. So I want to focus on how we become friendly, investment friendly, even to our businesses that are already here."
Alternative Energy in Michigan
Michigan has many different sources of energy in the state, ranging from fossil fuels, natural gas, wind, solar and nuclear. We asked the candidates about these different types of energy and their plans to address Michigan's energy needs in the future.
"I'm always supportive of innovation and ideas to make sure that we are having the least possible impact. And I think that that's something that we've done as a manufacturer, I've experienced that myself. I always talk about the fact that in the steel industry, we made steel castings, the same way for many years. And the latest factory that my family has been involved with, has changed from having a chemically bonded sand to having these vacuum sealed sand. Those are just the ways that we see innovation and how we can affect the environment in different ways. I think that any type of innovation is great, we should always be focused on that we can't focus on that to the point of straining our electrical grid right now. So we have to make sure that we have the energy that we need while also looking at alternatives and bringing in innovation."
Education in Michigan
During the pandemic, many students in the state lost out on adequate education because of various factors. As a result, Michigan students between the ages of first and third grade were found to have a literacy rate of only about 50%. Dixon talks about her ideas on how to get education back on track.
"We don't want the system to fail the children, we want there to be no wrong path for students. So when we look at this, we have to say we can just continue to put money into it and hope that it changes or we can say, in any other business, we would say what's the root cause of this? And how can we have a corrective action for that? And also, how can we get parents involved because ultimately, their child is the user of the public school, we want them to make sure that they're involved in they have the input as to where their child should be. So we're talking about funding the students instead of funding the system. And I know there is a concern that if you fund the student that that could affect the public school system. So I want to make it clear that we've never seen that happen. We look at the state of Florida that has done a great job of funding students and they were in a similar situation to us. They were in the bottom 10 in the nation. Now they're in the top 10 with a thriving public school education and also a thriving private system. Because I really think it's important to understand that the parent is the one who understands what the child needs best."
We also asked the candidates about the the teaching of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in classrooms and whether or not they supported DEI programs.
"I really want to focus on getting our kids back on track on the basics. So if we look at public education, any education, from kindergarten to third grade, our kids are learning to read. And then from third grade on their reading to learn, but like I said, we just had a 50% failure rate on our third graders. So we're missing the boat there. I'd like to put the focus on getting back to those facts and reading, writing and arithmetic, make sure we get those under control. And I'd love to see that money go to hardening our schools. So we have these programs in the schools right now with DEI directors. But let's get a safety resource director in there. We know that we have an issue where we have our schools that are vulnerable. And I want to make sure that our kids are not going to a place where they are vulnerable during the day."
2020 Election Results
Many people in Michigan have raised concerns over election security and believe that their was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election in Michigan and across the nation. We asked Dixon to weigh in on that and provide her ideas on how to secure elections in Michigan.
"I think that we had a situation that is unique to any election year we've ever had. Let's take a look back at 2020, where all of a sudden, we're in a situation where we don't know if people can go to the polls. But it seems as though there was in Michigan a case where the Secretary of State definitely took advantage of that by sending out absentee ballot applications to everyone in the state. And then in addition to that, when she was campaigning, she said she thought the signature match was the most important thing to make sure our elections were secure. She didn't want voter ID, but then she reduced the signature match. On top of that we had money coming in from Mark Zuckerberg and we were the only state that didn't have government oversight of that money... We have a robust election system, that our common sense voting laws that the legislature passed already do pass. And we make sure we have voter ID that we don't have Zuckerbucks coming into the state that we make sure that we have the voter rolls cleaned up. And these are just common sense."
Police Shortage in Michigan
Police departments in major cities in the state like Grand Rapids and Detroit have been short-staffed for years now and have been working to increase recruiting and retention. We asked the candidates how they would address these staffing issues in the state.
"If you hear me out on the campaign trail, you'll hear me hear me talk about Safe Cities all the time. First and foremost, we need to support law enforcement. Always rule of law is what keeps us safe and what it's what keeps our city safe. We know that we need to bring more people to the state of Michigan and right now we're getting a bad rap for dangerous cities and we can trace that directly back to the defund the police movement, which this governor, Gretchen Whitmer, came out and said she supports defund the police. That has caused police officers to leave our state. So I say we fund the police, we make sure they have the funding and the training that they need. And we do what we can to get creative about bringing police here, what kinds of ideas can we put out that will fund them in different ways that will give them more security later in life? We have been sitting down with police across the state and saying 'what do you need?' Because we want to be the governor that is putting police first. We will always support our law enforcement officers and make sure that public safety is number one."
Health Care
Mental health is a big topic for many people and Dixon thinks that we need to work to bring back health care professionals that left during the pandemic.
"We just came from someone who said, 'I have kids that are in hospitals that are not specialty mental health hospitals,' something we have to really get serious about. And we have to work within the constraints of our budgetary system. So we have to make sure that that is a priority, along with policing, because the two do go together. When you think about if we have a mental health issue that's not taken care of that generally leads to something that we end up having to have the police come in for. So how can we go ahead of that? Okay to say is one of those ways, but then we also have to have the hospitals and the professionals available. And that's partially something that we'll have to look at how do we bring those professionals into the state along with health care professionals, because we lost a lot of those people during the pandemic. So we need to get creative about bringing those folks back to the state as well."
Plans for Bipartisanship as Governor
Dixon hopes to work across the aisle on public safety with Democrats if she wins the governorship.
"I think public safety is one of those. I think we can all agree that rule of law is really important. Now, we've seen some of these cities that have been destroyed by riots. And certainly having trouble rebuilding, we don't want that to happen to any community in the state of Michigan. So I think that's something that is really a strong opportunity to sit down with the folks across the aisle and say, how do we support our law enforcement officers to make sure they are the safest on the streets and that our streets are the safest in the nation."
Editors Note: Mrs. Dixon had limited time with us during the interview and we were unable to ask her some of the questions we asked the other candidates. Mrs. Dixon's campaign was given an opportunity to provide written responses to those questions, they will be updated to this article once they have been received.
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