WARREN, Mich. — Republican nominee for Michigan governor Tudor Dixon said her campaign was "within striking distance" of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as top Michigan GOP candidates claimed a Saturday night rally with former President Donald Trump would benefit them on election night.
At about 6 p.m., a few thousand people were gathered inside the Macomb County Community College Sports and Expo Center in Warren to hear speeches from Trump, Dixon and others. The event was taking place 38 days before a pivotal election, in which the GOP is hoping to unseat three Democrats who hold the battleground state's top offices.
Dixon, a political commentator and businesswoman from Norton Shores, spoke for about 25 minutes before Trump took the stage at 7:15 p.m. Dixon used her speech to criticize Whitmer for running what she described as a "basement campaign" and vowed to make Michigan's schools the best in the nation.
"After all of the spending, we’re still within striking distance," Dixon told reporters afterward. "I think it means that our message is resonating and she doesn’t really have a message.”
Republican secretary of state candidate Kristina Karamo said she was planning to use the event with Trump to energize supporters to go out and knock doors and talk to voters in her bid to unseat Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
"It galvanizes the troops," said Karamo, an educator from Oak Park. "It gets people involved. It helps spread the message."
Karamo, Dixon and Matt DePerno, the Republican candidate against Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel, have all been endorsed by Trump and spoke at Saturday's rally.
The Democratic candidates have maintained leads in public polling. Whitmer was up by 13 percentage points, according to an Aug. 29 through Sept. 1 survey by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Dixon's running mate, former state Rep. Shane Hernandez, participated in a tailgate in a parking lot outside the rally Saturday afternoon.
Hernandez, a Republican, said Trump's appearance would bring excitement to the Michigan campaigns and get the grassroots of the party involved.
"The message is what people are talking about at their kitchen table: education, public safety, the economy," Hernandez said.
Ads promoting Dixon would ramp up soon, Hernandez predicted. So far, Democrats have spent millions of dollars on TV commercials promoting Whitmer and criticizing Dixon's opposition to abortion in almost all cases, but Dixon's side has been relatively quiet.
Trump won Michigan by less than 1 percentage point over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 but lost the state to Democrat Joe Biden by 3 points in 2020.
Trump has repeatedly made unproven claims that fraud cost him the 2020 race in Michigan. However, bipartisan boards of canvassers, a series of court rulings and investigation by the GOP-controlled state Senate Oversight Committee have upheld the result.
In a statement Saturday, the Michigan Democratic Party accused Dixon, whom Trump has endorsed, of having "a long history of pushing baseless lies about the integrity of the 2020 election."
"For years, Dixon has stoked public distrust in the democratic process and spread lies about Michigan’s elections with absolutely no proof to back up her claims," the party's statement said.
Ammar Moussa of the Democratic National Committee said the event was "a reminder of how beholden today’s Republican Party is to Donald Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) agenda."
"Every single Republican on stage with Trump has endorsed his Big Lie that incited an attack on our Capitol in an attempt to defy the will of nearly 3 million Michiganders," Moussa said, referencing deniers of the 2020 election outcome.
But Jack Lodato of Eastpointe said he came to Saturday's rally to support Trump, whom he described as "my president."
He was wearing a shirt that suggested Trump would run again, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as his running mate, in 2024.
"I believe he's going to run. And I think he's going to win," Lodato said.
Also, waiting to enter the venue Saturday was Sharon Anderson, a retiree who traveled from Tennessee. Anderson said it was her 29th Trump rally and she camped outside three nights in anticipation of the event.
Anderson said she came to support "the best president in the history of this country."
There were other Trump allies from out of state, including My Pillow founder Mike Lindell and Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, in Macomb County on Saturday.
"I am traveling to as many of these rallies and to as many states as I can to support Republicans because I cannot believe what has happened to our country in less than two years," Taylor Greene told reporters.
DePerno predicted the Trump's rally would have a "significant impact" on the Michigan races.
Trump coming to the state would provide "at least a 4-point swing in terms of public perception or polling," DePerno said.
"It will energize the base to get out there over the next 39 days or so and work very hard, knocking on doors, making phone calls, passing out literature and connecting with the voters," DePerno said.
Trump last visited Michigan on April 2 for a rally in Washington Township.
