Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) is the projected winner in Michigan’s highly anticipated gubernatorial election, defeating Republican challenger Tudor Dixon.
Polls leading up to the election showed Whitmer with the edge, up 4.4 percent on Friday, which shrunk to one percent on Tuesday. An Insider Advantage survey released last week showed the two in a dead heat, with 5.4 percent of voter remaining undecided.
The victory follows a contentious debate between the two candidates, in which Dixon confronted the Democrat for claiming that schools were only closed for three months — a thorough falsehood.
“I’m pretty sure I just heard an audible gasp around town when Gretchen Whitmer said that kids were out of school for three months,” Dixon said, adding, “Perhaps she wasn’t paying attention to what was actually happening.”
“This is shocking to me that she thinks that schools were only closed for three months, or maybe she thinks she can convince you that schools were only closed for three months, but you know better because your students are the ones that are desperately behind,” the Republican explained during the debate.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer gives a celebratory speech at the Michigan Democrat’s Post-Midterm after party held at Sound Board in Detroit. (Nick Hagen for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Whitmer has spent the campaign remaining in denial, even ignoring Dixon after the Republican pointed out that the governor offered $715 million in tax dollars to a China-based company.
“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, which Whitmer ignored.
“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,” Whitmer said.