BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. — Republican gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon campaigned with her new running mate, Shane Hernandez, for the first time Saturday at the Oakland County Republican Party's eighth annual Dream Cruise party.
Dixon named Hernandez as her running mate Friday an hour before the Michigan GOP's deadline. Hernandez, who works as a project manager at Nicholas Sears Construction in Port Huron, was a conservative state representative before an unsuccessful congressional bid in 2020.
Hernandez told The Detroit News that he will campaign as much as necessary to win this race, despite only starting work at Nicholas Sears Construction in June, according to his LinkedIn page.
"If I have to campaign full time, I will campaign full time," he said.
Prior to Friday, when his nomination was announced, Hernandez said he had met Dixon multiple times over several months.
"I had heard that my name was on the list, so it wasn't a surprise to have a call and have that conversation," he said. "It wasn't like I hadn't thought about it before then."
Hernandez said his decision to run was largely based on his family.
"I've been in the legislature before; I've seen kind of the path we're on as a state," he said. "When it really comes down to it, I can't look at my kids and tell them I didn't do everything in my power to fight to change the path of Michigan for them. So it's about them. It's about the future of my family."
Dixon told supporters that the Republican ticket is strong and that she and Hernandez would prioritize law enforcement, manufacturing and parents' rights in schools.
"I'm a mom of four girls, Shane is a dad of two girls," she said. "We are ready to fight for parents ... We want parents to know exactly what's happening in our schools and we want to make sure that parents have rights in education."
Dixon also criticized her opponent, Democratic incumbent Gretchen Whitmer, for vetoing proposed income tax cuts and two bills that would have created a scholarship program for education services, giving donors a tax break for their contributions that could potentially be used for private school tuition. Whitmer cited concerns that wealthy donors would use private schools as tax shelters as her reason for the veto.
Dixon and Hernandez both stressed their support for manufacturing and backgrounds in skilled trades, with Dixon having worked in the steel industry and Hernandez in architecture and design.
"I grew up in a blue-collar, hard-working family," Hernandez said. "My dad taught me the core values of conservative conservatism ... It's about hard work, skilled trades, education for everybody that's fair to our families, that we have choices and about getting Michigan back to work."
Other Republican candidates expressed their support for the prospective Republican ticket at the event, including Kristina Karamo, who is running for secretary of state; Matthew DePerno for attorney general and Mark Ambrose, who is challenging Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan's 11th Congressional District.
Hernandez's nomination is not guaranteed, as the delegates of the Michigan GOP still have to formally confirm the party's nominees for lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, the State Board of Education and three university governing boards next Saturday, Aug. 27.
Dixon's selection of Hernandez received positive reviews from attendees at the pair's campaign stop.
"I think she made a good decision. He's somebody who kind of represents our American population and he seems like a hard-working person," said Jacob Dimick, one of the precinct delegates who will be voting on Hernandez's nomination next weekend. "I'm excited to see how that shakes out and research more on him."
Macomb Township resident Muhammed Smidi will be voting in his first general election this fall and said he's supported Dixon since the beginning of her candidacy. The 19-year-old said he was happy that she came to a decision about a running mate.
"I know it was very last minute," Smidi said. "I'm not really too familiar with him... He seems like a very nice guy and hopefully, he has enough pull to pull a lot of the independent votes."
