Is Trump still a kingmaker?
MICHIGAN residents headed to the polls on Tuesday, along with voters in Arizona, Kansas, Missouri and Washington. Of great interest in these primaries is the influence former president Donald Trump may have to shape the outcomes in races for governor and Congress, writes Ingrid Jaques.
These are the first primaries after the conclusion of recent congressional hearings looking into Trump’s role in last year’s January 6 Capitol riot.
I’m paying closest attention to Michigan, because it’s where I live and where I’ve covered politics for many years. As of Tuesday afternoon, state polling sites were reporting low in-person turnout but fairly robust absentee ballot returns. It’s still unclear which party is most motivated to vote in this election.
A contest that has garnered a lot of interest both statewide and nationally is the
Republican primary race for governor. It has been a mess, really, with former frontrunners not making it on the ballot due to fraudulent signature gathering.
None of the five remaining candidates had done much to rise above the pack until recently, when business woman and former conservative commentator Tudor Dixon earned key endorsements, including from Michigan’s powerful DeVos family.
Then after much speculation about whether he’d endorse or not, Trump weighed in on Friday night with a plug for Dixon. That’s expected to give her the boost she needs to pull off a win, but many primary voters had already cast their absentee ballots before Trump’s endorsement.
Another dynamic at play is the fact former US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Trump are finding themselves backing the same candidate. Some thought Trump may avoid Dixon because of that, following DeVos’ revelation to me in June that she and other Cabinet members had discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump following January 6, 2021.
National Democrats last week got involved in the Republican contest by running a fake attack ad with the aim of boosting Gibbs among conservative voters in the West Michigan district because they see Meijer as the bigger threat in November.
“This is another element of the Trump factor,” says David Dulio, professor of political science at Metro Detroit’s Oakland University. “One candidate voted to impeach Trump, and the other one is endorsed by Trump. That’s what the Democrats have seized on.”