Steve Neavling, Michigan Advance

As Dixon tries to soften her image in the final days of her race against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the Metro Times found numerous instances in which she used her platform to sow divisions, make insensitive comments, and spread misinformation about the 2020 election and COVID-19.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer does a TV interview after a debate with Republican challenger Tudor Dixon on WXYZ Channel 7 at Oakland University in Rochester, Oct. 24, 2022 | Pool photo from Robin Buckson / The Detroit News

Polls show that Dixon is narrowing Whitmer’s lead in the race as the West Michigan Republican tries to appeal to moderates and independents by toning down her rhetoric. But Dixon — who said her experience as a conservative commentator prepared her to run — has a history of using inflammatory rhetoric and giving voice to fringe characters in the pro-Trump MAGA movement.

Real America’s Voice is a far-right alternative to Fox News, providing a steady diet of Trump propaganda and conspiracy theories. The network also distributes Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast.

Dixon’s show ran from June 2019 to May 2021, the month she announced her gubernatorial campaign.

In one segment in June 2020, Dixon defended blackface after YouTube star Jenna Marbles apologized for doing an impression of rapper Nicki Minaj that involved darkening her skin with makeup.

“What is acting if you are not acting like someone else?” Dixon asked. “She was being funny.”

Dixon added, “It was clearly comedy, and so this is where we are right now. Comedians have to go by the wayside. We can no longer have comedy.”

Also in 2020, amid the protests for racial justice following George Floyd’s death by Minneapolis police, a number of companies reviewed their logos and branding. Mrs. Butterworth’s parent company Conagra Brands announced that it would review the shape of its syrup bottles, which have been criticized as an example of the “mammy” stereotype.

In a segment, Dixon imitated Mrs. Butterworth’s voice, saying, “So every Saturday my husband comes out of the pantry with the Mrs. Butterworth and says, ‘Hello girls, I’m thick and rich,’” Dixon said.

In the same segment, in discussing a similar move by the former Uncle Ben’s rice brand, Dixon’s co-host Matt Locke said, “You want to be really over the edge? What are all the Asians going to say about the rice going away? Gotta have some Uncle Ben’s!”

On a separate show, Dixon called hijabs “oppressive garments” and suggested Iranian women are being “murdered by their own family” for marrying without their consent. Many Muslim women say they are happy to wear a hijab, as it is a symbol of their faith.

On another show, Dixon repeated the racist claim that suggests Planned Parenthood aims to control the Black population.

“We have so many Black activists who are now coming out and saying Planned Parenthood puts 80% of their clinics into Black communities,” Dixon said. (In 2015, NPR reported that a Guttmacher Institute survey of all of the nearly 2,000 abortion clinics in the U.S. found that 60% were in majority-white neighborhoods.)

In another segment, Dixon agreed with Locke when he made an apparent joke about transgender people.

At campaign events in the last week, Dixon questioned the safety of COVID vaccines

“I feel Black today,” Locke said. “Can I not? Can I not be Black today? Can I not be a woman today? Can I be a chandelier? What do I feel like today? We’re warping the lines of reality.”

Dixon agreed, saying, “We keep bending to the mob.”

She added, “We cannot be held down by men who have decided to transition or think they are going to transition into womanhood because it’s different.”

On Dixon’s show, Locke also claimed that Democrats had constructed a “perfect storm,” saying the George Floyd protests and the COVID-19 pandemic were part of a complex scheme to beat former President Donald Trump. Locke defended Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis lawyers who brandished guns at Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020.

“These people are lucky they didn’t show up at my house because there’ll be a lot of them laying on the ground,” Locke said. “I would be shooting first and asking questions later.”

Dixon responded, “This is what so many people are saying we are going toward a true civil war in this country.”

Maeve Coyle, a spokeswoman for Whitmer’s campaign, said Dixon’s comments during and after her media career underscore that she is a danger to Michigan.

“Tudor Dixon’s long record of racist and bigoted statements while pushing conspiracy theories and casting doubt on our democracy is dangerous,” Coyle told the Metro Times. “After spending years platforming anti-abortion activists and election deniers, Dixon is now trying to force her extreme agenda to ban abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest, or health of the mother and undermine our elections on Michiganders.”

She added, “While Dixon has a well-documented history of embracing and making racist, offensive statements, Governor Whitmer has brought people together to make historic investments in public education, secure major increases in funding for law enforcement, strengthen Michigan’s infrastructure, and fight like hell to protect access to abortion and reproductive freedom.”

Dixon has continued to make controversial statements during her campaign.

In a speech at Oakland County Republican Party headquarters on Oct. 13, Dixon mocked Whitmer’s laugh, saying it sounded like a “snort” from Vice President Kamala Harris.

“When you are held accountable to the things that you’ve done … and all you can do is snort out a Kamala Harris-style laugh and say, ‘I don’t even know how to respond to that,’ then I guess that you’re not in the right job.”

Trump and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich have also mocked Harris’ laugh, drawing criticism from Black activists.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon speaks at a Macomb County Trump rally, Oct. 1, 2022 | Laina G. Stebbins

“If it weren’t her laugh, it’d be her smile or the way she dressed,” Arisha Hatch, vice president of Color of Change, a group that advocates for racial justice, told The Los Angeles Times. “It is just another conversation that demonstrates how difficult it is to be a woman-of-color leader in this country.”

On the campaign trail, Dixon perpetuated stereotypes of Asian-Americans and China, saying in January that “my Asian friends were the hardest workers in the class.”

She used xenophobic rhetoric to attack the deal with Chinese battery company Gotion High Tech, which brought $2.4 million in private investments and 2,350 jobs to Big Rapids in Michigan.

“We are truly bringing in a company that has its corporate ties in China,” Dixon said on Breitbart Radio. “This where where they come from. They’re a Chinese company. They incorporated a leg of their business into California. And they’re like, oh, this is now an American company. This is not an American company. This is a Chinese company. And you and I both know how China works.”

Last week, Dixon was featured at a fundraiser hosted by Carle Higbie, a disgraced right-wing activist who resigned from the Trump administration after making racist anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ+ statements.

Dixon’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

This story first ran in the Detroit Metro Times. Subscribe to our newsletters, and follow us on Google News, Apple News, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, or TikTok.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and Twitter.

The Michigan Office of the Auditor General debunked conspiracy theories about widespread election fraud, concluding in a report released Friday that local and state officials conducted accurate audits of the election that found little to no irregularities.

The office found no evidence of fraud and said the post-election audits were sufficient, with some exceptions, contradicting repeated claims by former President Donald Trump and his loyalists who have insisted Joe Biden stole the election.

Biden defeated Trump in Michigan by more than 154,000 votes.

“By confirming the effectiveness of the most comprehensive post-election audit in state history, the Auditor General affirmed what has been demonstrated time and time again – Michigan’s 2020 election was secure and the outcome accurately reflects the will of the voters,” Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in a statement Friday. “The auditors recognized the tremendous work the Michigan Bureau of Elections and local election officials did to carry out more than 250 successful post-election audits by rating the bureau’s performance perhaps better than ever.”

One of the most pervasive conspiracy theories was that numerous votes were cast on behalf of dead people. By comparing voting records with public health records, the office found that 1,616 votes, or 0.03% of the total ballots, were cast by people who were dead as of Election Day. But in most of the cases, the people voted absentee before they died.

In all but 20 instances, the voter died more than 40 days before the election.

The report also found that 99.99% of the votes were not duplicates and 99.99% were within acceptable age parameters.

“The performance of Michigan’s clerks in the 2020 election and the months that followed was outstanding, especially when we take into consideration the national, coordinated and shameful effort to overturn the legitimate outcome of the election and undermine the clerks themselves,” Benson said. “The reality is that Michigan’s county, city and township clerks successfully shouldered significant responsibilities, endured unprecedented scrutiny and ensured the security and professional execution of the 2020 election and post-election audits.”

The Office of Auditor General found minor problems, saying the Bureau of Elections did not “ensure county clerks completed and timely submitted all assigned post-election audits.”

The office recommended that the bureau “improve its oversight and reporting of the post-election audits assigned to county clerks.”

Despite overwhelming evidence that the election results were accurate and without widespread fraud, some Republicans have peddled conspiracy theories to justify imposing restrictions on voters. Republican lawmakers introduced dozens of bills that would make it more difficult to vote in Michigan and are pursuing ballot measures.

This story first ran in the Detroit Metro Times. Subscribe to their newsletters, and follow them on Google News, Apple News, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Reddit.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and Twitter.

In the recording, which was obtained and provided by American Bridge 21st Century, a liberal political action committee that conducts opposition research on Republicans, Craig is asked if he would stop Democrats “from undoing the law that makes abortion illegal in Michigan."

“I will do whatever I can — I'm pro-life," Craig responded.

Asked again if he supports blocking Democrats from “repealing that law," Craig said, “Yes."

Asked about the recording, Craig's campaign didn't directly respond to his remarks about the abortion ban.

“James Craig is unapologetically pro-life and opposes liberal efforts for abortion on demand, late term abortions, and partial birth abortions," his campaign said in a written statement.

Abortion-rights advocates say Craig's support for a complete ban on abortion is unpopular and would turn back the clock on women's rights.

“The right to abortion is about freedom, bodily autonomy, and people who become pregnant determining their own futures," Sam Inglot, deputy director of the progressive group Progress Michigan, tells Metro Times. “The fact that James Craig is willing to take that freedom away is incredibly regressive and dangerous. The idea of reverting to a nearly 100-year-old law that strips people of these rights is not the direction we want to go in the state."

If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade and Michigan's law ban goes back into effect, women could be imprisoned for terminating their pregnancy, abortion-rights advocates point out.

“James Craig just said in no uncertain terms that he would do everything in his power to ensure that abortion is criminalized as manslaughter and make felons out of healthcare providers," said Rodericka Applewhaite, spokesperson for the Michigan Democratic Party. “Thanks to a 1931 Michigan law that Craig is committed to keeping on the books, that's exactly the hostile environment women and families would immediately face should Roe v. Wade get overturned. Already, the Supreme Court is set to hear a direct challenge to this crucial case at the end of the year. For the Detroit Dodger to choose this as the first clear answer of his candidacy proves that he's been refusing to answer questions in the hopes that it would hide his extremist views from Michiganders."

Craig has previously dodged questions about his position on abortion.

“Though he has desperately tried to hide his extreme positions, James Craig finally confirmed he stands by an extreme anti-abortion law that would virtually eliminate the freedom to decide and criminalize doctors for doing their jobs," DNC spokesperson Adonna Biel said. “Michigan's 1931 abortion ban has no place in the 21st century, and yet Craig is willing to stand by an arcane law in opposition to decades of precedent, and jeopardize the health of countless people."

This story first ran in the Detroit Metro Times and you can read it here. Subscribe to their newsletters, and follow them on Google News, Apple News, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Reddit.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and Twitter.