Michigan’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon on Tuesday evening called out Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for offering $715 million in tax dollars to a China-based company — a point the Democrat could not even outright deny.
“I will fight for every dime to come into the state of Michigan so I can make your life better,” Whitmer said during the debate, prompting Dixon to remind voters that Whitmer has a history of putting China first.
“You should be careful of where all of your dimes go if Gretchen Whitmer is in charge, because she just offered $715 million of your taxpayer dollars to a Chinese corporation to come to the state of Michigan,” Dixon said.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, left, takes notes as Republican candidate Tudor Dixon speaks during a debate televised on WXYZ Channel 7 at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., on Tuesday, October 25, 2022. (Robin Buckson/Detroit News via AP)
“So she can tell you all she wants that she is improving economic development and keeping automotive jobs here, but we’re hearing that battery plants are going outside of Michigan unless they’re owned by the Chinese and have strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Your taxpayer dollars are not safe with Gretchen Whitmer,” she said.
Dixon discussed Whitmer’s dealings with that China-linked company, Gotion, during a recent appearance on Breitbart News Saturday.
“She’s touting this as expanding EV vehicles, and this is a part of Joe Biden’s plan and how great it is to be a part of Joe Biden’s electrify the nation plan. And yet, we are truly bringing in a company that has its corporate ties in China. This is where they come from. They’re a Chinese company [that] 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,” Dixon warned during her October 1 appearance on the show.
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Whitmer, however, was unable to deny Dixon’s point during the debate.
“There was a lot a lot to take in on that one. I’ll say this. We are making historic progress when it comes to economic development,” the governor said, before defending the Chinese-linked company Gotion, specifically.
“Mrs. Dixon has worked against economic development incentives that I worked in a bipartisan way to get done. If she was governor, none of those projects would be happening. We cannot unilaterally disarm and think we’re going to build an economy of the future. We have to run fast and win.”
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