Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon, flanked by his sons, speaks to members of the media outside Norton Shores Fire Station 3 after voting Tuesday, August 2, 2022, in Grand Rapids, MI .
Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
Tudor Dixon, a former conservative commentator and actor backed by former President Donald Trump, will win the Republican primary election for governor of Michigan, NBC News projects.
Dixon will face off in the general against incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.
Meanwhile, in the tumultuous Republican primary for governor, Dixon emerged as the front-runner only after several leading candidates were disqualified from the ballot and another was arrested on misdemeanor charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Dixon could face an uphill battle against Whitmer, whose bid for a second term in office is powered by a well-funded campaign and strong approval ratings. Even as President Joe Biden’s unpopularity in the state threatened to dampen Democratic enthusiasm across the board, recent polls showed Whitmer above water. Polls conducted before the primary also showed Whitmer leading Dixon in a hypothetical matchup.
But Dixon also has the support of the powerful DeVos family, which is connected to super PACs that have spent more than $2 million in support of her candidacy. Betsy DeVos was Trump’s former Secretary of Education, but resigned after January 6, 2021, later saying Trump crossed a “line in the sand.”
Dixon took a steady and growing lead in GOP primaries over the past month, according to polls compiled by RealClearPolitics. Trump endorsed her less than a week before Election Day.
Before Trump announced her endorsement, DeVos wrote a handwritten note to the former president, urging him to endorse Dixon, The New York Times reported.
Dixon, like other candidates in Michigan’s GOP primary, has previously echoed Trump’s false claims about key 2020 election results manipulated through widespread fraud. The weekend before the primary and after receiving Trump’s endorsement, Dixon offered more ambiguous language, saying he had concerns about how the race was handled in his state.