Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, seeking a second four-year term, airs first TV campaign ad of 2022
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LANSING — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer highlights challenges she has faced and touts her administration's accomplishments in the areas of child care and education in her campaign's first TV ad of 2022.
"The last few years have been tough. But we're tougher, and getting things done right now," Whitmer says in the 30-second ad.
The ad opens with Whitmer saying that both her daughters are now in college, but she remembers the days when she was working full-time and "juggling a newborn" while her mother had cancer.
"It was a lot," Whitmer says in the ad. "All over Michigan, people are facing those same struggles."
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The ad says that since taking office in 2019, Whitmer's administration has made child care more affordable, made it a priority to get students back in classrooms after the pandemic paused in-person instruction, and made record investments in K-12 education, without raising taxes.
Republicans, who rejected Whitmer's proposed 45-cent-per-gallon increase in the state fuel tax to help fulfill her 2018 campaign promise to "fix the damn roads," have criticized her for not doing enough to move students back into classrooms from virtual learning more quickly. Whitmer has vetoed bills passed by the Republican Legislature to cut Michigan's personal income tax, saying they are fiscally irresponsible because most of the state's budget surplus is only short-term.
Republicans slammed the new ad.
“Gretchen Whitmer appears to be living in a fantasy world where one day she can try and raise taxes and the next she takes credit for Republican accomplishments," said Chris Gustafson, a spokesman for the Republican Governors Association. "Michiganders deserve a Republican governor who will fight for them and deliver real relief."
Five Republican candidates are on the Aug. 2 Republican primary ballot for governor: Norton Shores businesswoman Tudor Dixon; Ottawa County real estate agent Ryan Kelley; Farmington Hills retired pastor Ralph Rebandt; Oakland County businessman Kevin Rinke; and Kalamazoo chiropractor Garrett Soldano. Also, former Detroit Police Chief James Craig is running as a write-in candidate after being disqualified from the ballot over fraudulent signatures.
The winner of the GOP primary will face Whitmer in the Nov. 8 general election.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer airs first TV campaign ad of 2022
