Fresh off win, Tudor Dixon takes aim at Michigan’s Whitmer on COVID, economy

Fresh off her Republican primary win, Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon is taking aim at Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s record on the pandemic and economy.

Speaking on the "Just the News, Not Noise" television show on Wednesday night, Dixon said Whitmer’s strict COVID-19 lockdowns had negatively impacted everything from children’s development to small businesses while causing deaths in nursing homes.

"We haven't recovered from it," she said. "And she was the most radical governor in the nation. When you look at her what she did her policies. You talked about the nursing home policy, a lot of people talked about Governor Cuomo's nursing home policy. But there was a point where he said, 'You know what, this is not a good idea. I'm going to reverse course, not going to do this anymore.'"

"Gretchen Whitmer doubled down," Dixon continued. "We had a massive amount of deaths in our nursing homes in Michigan... We had schools closed longer than almost any other state. And if you look, on average, a blue state had schools closed for double the amount of time of days that a red state did. And so our kids are really seriously behind."

Dixon said the incumbent governor was vulnerable for vetoing legislation that would’ve help students recover from the impact of the pandemic.

"She knew our students were behind. And even though she knew this, and the legislature said, 'Hey, we're gonna have reading scholarships to get these kids back on track,'" Dixon said. "She vetoed that, because this governor will not work with the other branches of government. That is detrimental to the system. And it has crushed the system."

The Michigan Republican also vowed to rid school systems of radical curricula and give parents more visibility into what their children are taught.

"They'll tell you [Critical Race Theory] is not being taught. But we have a quote last year from Detroit superintendent saying we are deeply using CRT," she said. "We can go back and say 'how did our literacy exams come out this year?' Well, our third graders failed across the state at a 50% rate. Half of our third graders failed their literacy exam. But in the city of Detroit, that's nearly 90%. And when I talk to teachers there, they say, our kids are not learning the regular arithmetic reading, writing that those basic skills are not the focus anymore. We have really gotten heavily involved in the CRT type material, or we're telling kids you know, you're being held back, there's not the opportunity for you," Dixon lamented. "So we want to go back and say, Hey, every kid that hits kindergarten this year, our goal is to make sure they are reading by the end of my first term."

On the economy, Dixon sharply criticized Whitmer‘s efforts to close down the Line 5 energy pipeline in Michigan, a move even the socialist government in Canada has opposed.

"Gretchen Whitmer is more radical than the most radical environmentalists in the world, Justin Trudeau, because she wants to shut down a pipeline," Dixon insisted. "I know you all have covered the Keystone pipeline. Well, we have Line 5 in the state of Michigan, and she wants to get that shut down.

”Now Justin Trudeau has actually come out and said, 'You can't shut this pipeline down. It comes from Canada goes through Michigan goes back up to Canada, we all use those products.' And Michigan heavily relies on those products."