GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her Republican challenger Tudor Dixon kicked off Thursday's debate in Grand Rapids sparring over abortion and what exemptions or limitations they would support related to abortion.
Dixon noted a judge had already ruled on state abortion legislation, referring to a permanent injunction currently keeping the status quo in place before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, and that a ballot proposal on the Nov. 8 ballot would also likely affect Michigan's abortion laws.
She accused Whitmer of supporting abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, referencing Whitmer's past vote against a partial-birth abortion ban.
“That is too extreme and too dangerous," Dixon said. "We know our fundamental rights are very much at risk right now. I am fighting to protect our right to choose.”
Whitmer pushed back on Dixon's assertion, noting her lawsuit filed in April sought to preserve the status quo and current limitations on abortion.
"The only reason 1931 law isn’t in effect is because of my lawsuit," Whitmer said, referring to a state abortion ban that's been unenforceable since 1973 while Roe was in place.
The debate marks the first time in Michigan history two female nominees for governor from the two major parties appear on a debate stage together.
On school safety, the candidates argued over the best way to address school violence.
Whitmer said she supported background checks, secure storage and red flag laws, and argued Dixon wanted more guns, less oversight and the elimination of gun free zones.
The governor said her challenger would put the “second amendment over second graders every time — and we cannot let that happen."
Dixon argued Whitmer could have used more federal money to harden schools over the summer, but "nothing happened.”
Last month, Michigan Department of Education training videos for teachers working with LGBTQ students surfaced that promoted keeping information from parents of suicidal students that the student was gay or transgender.
The state education department, Dixon said, “has now come out and said there are times when we can hide a dangerous situation from parents… we’ve never seen something like this before. We’re in really scary times.”
As governor, Whitmer does not control the Department of Education, which is constitutionally autonomous and controls by the elected State Board of Education.
But Whitmer’s chief operating officer Tricia Foster sent a letter to state school superintendent Michael Rice encouraging him to “continue bringing parents’ perspectives into the work you do” and focus on reading, writing and math.
The debate also got testy when the candidates sparred over Whitmer's decision to shutter thousands of businesses during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 and keep restrictions in place through mid-2021.
Whitmer defended her actions during the pandemic, arguing they saved thousands of lives. The lives that were lost mattered, Whitmer said, and urgent action was needed to limit the toll from the virus.
“If I could go back in time with the knowledge we have now, sure, I would have made some different decisions,” Whitmer said. “But we were working in the middle of a crisis and lives were on the line.”
Dixon argued Whitmer’s response was devastating to the state especially when it came to policies affecting nursing homes, unemployment payments, school policy and business closures.
Republicans clashed with Whitmer throughout the pandemic over her handling of many aspects, but especially her decisions related to long-term care facilities. Whitmer closed off visitations to many nursing homes early in the pandemic and focused on caring for elderly with the virus in isolated areas of current nursing homes. Lawmakers called for those individuals to be kept in separate facilities to avoid COVID-19 spread.
In March, Attorney General Dana Nessel said further investigation into how the state tracked COVID-19 deaths in long-term care facilities was “unwarranted” after an Office of Auditor General report found that the state’s criteria for long-term care deaths had excluded about 2,386 COVID-19 deaths.
The report, Nessel wrote, did not support allegations that the state health department intentionally underreported or misrepresented the number of COVID-19 deaths.
Dixon accused Whitmer of suppoting the defund the police movement and referenced her 2019 veto of money for secondary road patrols in a rash of vetoes in the annual budget. She also touted her endorsement by the Police Officers Association of Michigan.
“We’re going to make sure not only they’re supported but they have the tools they need, they have the technology they need, and they have the mental health help they need,” Dixon said.
Whitmer pushed back on Dixon, arguing she had earned the support of police over the last four years. She touted other bipartisan budgets delivering money to law enforcement for training, recruitment and payments into their pension funds.
“My opponent is long on rhetoric and short on facts,” Whitmer said.
In June 2020, Whitmer said she supported the “spirit” of efforts to defund the police in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, a statement that her office later clarified did not indicate support for eliminating funding for law enforcement but a reprioritization of resources.
“It must be so embarrassing for the governor that it’s actually on tape that she said she supports the spirit of defund the police," Dixon said.
The event hosted by WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids was moderated by political reporter Rick Albin.
The debate between Whitmer and Dixon came on the same week the Republican Governors Association began airing its first ads promoting the GOP nominee and as more than 264,000 voters have already returned their absentee ballots and another 1.4 million voters have their absentee ballots in hand, according to data from the Secretary of State's office.
"This certainly could be the week that things change in our direction in a positive way," Dixon said Friday in an interview with The Detroit News. "We’ll see how the debate goes. But we are definitely looking forward to it.”
Multiple public polls have shown Dixon, a Norton Shores businesswoman and conservative commentator, trailing Whitmer by double digits.
A Sept. 26-29 poll from The Detroit News and WDIV-TV had Dixon behind Whitmer by 17 percentage points, 32.2% to 49.5%. The survey of 600 likely voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. However, 12.3% of participants in the poll were undecided, meaning if they break toward Dixon in the remaining weeks, the election could be significantly closer.
Dixon, as the challenger to an incumbent, has some things going in her favor Thursday night, said Aaron Kall, director of debates at the University of Michigan. Her professional background in media gives her experience in front of the camera, and the event itself puts Dixon, who hasn't had enough campaign money to run her own TV ads, on the same stage as the current governor, Kall said.
As for Whitmer, she simply needs to focus on doing no harm to her campaign, Kall said.
"When you’re the leader, you don’t really have to do anything," he said.
Dixon had pushed for earlier debates in order to reach absentee voters likely to submit their ballot in the first couple weeks of October but the candidates eventually settled on two.
Clerks began mailing out requested absentee ballots on Sept. 29 and are able to continue receiving online and mail requests for absentee voter ballots until 5 p.m. Nov. 4. Completed ballots must be submitted to a voter's local clerk by 8 p.m. Nov. 8.
Up until this week, ads promoting Whitmer and opposing Dixon have dominated airwaves across Michigan. But on Wednesday the Republican Governors Association began running pro-Dixon ads as part of a $3.5 million ad buy in Michigan.
Whitmer and Dixon are scheduled to participate in their second and last debate at 7 p.m. Oct. 25 at Oakland University. That debate will be hosted by WXYZ (Channel 7) in the Detroit area, WSYM in the Lansing area and WXMI in the Grand Rapids area.
Third-party gubernatorial candidates have said they would stand outside the Grand Rapids TV station to protest the debate after they were left out of the one-on-one matchup in the race for Michigan's top job.
