Michigan's candidates for governor: Where Gretchen Whitmer and Tudor Dixon stand

LANSING — When Michigan voters cast their ballots for governor, they can't complain they lack a clear choice.

The Nov. 8 election is the first time women have been on top of both the Democratic and the Republican tickets.

Beyond their gender, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Republican challenger Tudor Dixon have little in common.

Whitmer and Dixon disagree on abortion rights, economic development, education priorities, the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the future of the Line 5 pipeline through the Straits of Mackinac, to mention a few.

They also have vastly different backgrounds.

Whitmer, an attorney who was profiled in the Free Press in 2018, served six years in the state House and eight in the Senate, plus short stints in private practice and as Ingham County prosecutor before serving four years as Michigan governor.

Dixon, a political newcomer who was profiled in the Free Press during her Republican primary campaign, has worked in the steel industry and in media, as a conservative TV commentator, a producer of conservative news for students, and a film actress.

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Gretchen Whitmer

Party: Democratic

Residence: Lansing

Age: 51

Family: Married to retired dentist Dr. Marc Mallory, the couple has two daughters from a previous Whitmer marriage and three sons from a previous Mallory marriage.

Education: Bachelor's degree in communications and law degree, both from Michigan State University.

Experience: Whitmer, who lived in East Lansing before moving to the governor's residence in Lansing, was serving her third two-year term in the state House when she won a special election for the Michigan Senate in March 2006. She won a full four-year Senate term in November 2006 and was reelected in 2010, serving as Senate minority leader from 2011 through 2014. She served as Ingham County prosecutor in 2016 before she was elected governor in 2018.

Issues: Whitmer has touted her efforts to protect abortion rights in Michigan and has also run on her record, citing record funding for K-12 schools, state support for training and retraining workers, major investments in roads, bridges and other infrastructure, no tax increases, and the use of incentives to land multi-billion-dollar manufacturing plants related to the electric vehicle industry. The governor, who filed a pending lawsuit to declare unconstitutional Michigan's 1931 law that criminalizes most abortions, contrasts her own position with that of Dixon, who favors an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of the mother. Dixon says the only abortion she condones is to save the life of the mother. Whitmer also points to Dixon's claims, unsupported by evidence and rejected by courts and a Republican-controlled state Senate committee, that fraud affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Whitmer wants to shut down the Enbridge Line 5 oil and natural gas liquids pipeline through the Straits of Mackinac because of the environmental risk it poses.

Website: https://gretchenwhitmer.com

In her own words (Edited opening remarks from Oct. 13 gubernatorial debate in Grand Rapids): “I grew up in a household that was bipartisan. We had very different perspectives, but we shared values. And that’s how I know, when we stay focused on what really matters, it’s a lot easier to see we all want the same things: Great schools, good jobs, safe roads and communities. As governor, I signed over 900 bills, every one of them bipartisan. I will work with anyone who is serious about solving problems. And that’s how we made the biggest investment in state history in public education. It’s how we put 170,000 Michiganders on paths to higher education and skills, tuition-free. It’s how we secured the future of the auto industry, built here in Michigan. We also paid down … state debt, amassed a record Rainy Day Fund, and not only did we not raise taxes, we cut taxes for small business. You’re going to hear a lot of divisive rhetoric and a focus on the past from my opponent. Here’s what separates us: I still believe there is more that unites us than divides us. I believe in our democracy. I believe in decency, and that’s what I want to focus on … every minute I’m governor of this great state. Let’s work together and build a better future for our kids.”

More:Michigan's race for governor: How Whitmer, Dixon have managed art of the pivot

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Tudor Dixon

Party: Republican

Residence: Norton Shores

Age: 45

Family: Dixon and her husband Aaron, a financial controller for a manufacturing company, have four daughters.

Education: Bachelor's degree in psychology, University of Kentucky.

Experience: Born in Illinois, Dixon worked a range of jobs, including sales, for her late father's company, Michigan Steel in Muskegon, which closed in 2013. She left the company to start a family in 2009 and in 2017 co-founded Lumen Student News, providing conservative TV news and history lessons for students. Dixon has also been a host on the Real America's Voice cable network, an actor in low-budget films, and a producer of the 2018 film "Dummycrats."

Issues: Dixon has attacked Whitmer over poor performance in reading and other disciplines by Michigan students in standardized tests, accusations that school curricula include porn, and accusations teachers are assisting students in gender transition without telling their parents. She's blamed the governor for a rise in violent crime and promised to invest $1 billion to recruit and retain new police officers. Dixon has also highlighted ties between Whitmer and President Joe Biden, who she blames for high inflation. She accuses Whitmer of breaking her signature 2018 campaign promise to "fix the damn roads" and says that during the height of the pandemic, Whitmer erred both by moving COVID-positive patients into nursing homes and by barring family members from visiting loved ones inside nursing homes, even after testing negative for the virus. She says students were kept out of classrooms for too long and are now struggling to catch up. Dixon opposes the proposed shutdown of the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline.

Website: https://www.tudordixon.com/

In her own words (Edited opening remarks from Oct. 13 gubernatorial debate in Grand Rapids): "I’m a mom, I’m a wife, I’m a cancer survivor, and I’m a worker. I used to work many hours on the shop floor of a steel foundry, and I’ve owned a small business that was crushed by lockdowns in this state, like many of you. I also know what it is to have my children locked out of school and then have to try to get them back on track. I know how important it is to have safe communities so that we don’t have to worry about our kids going out to play outside. And I’m running for governor because, quite frankly, Gretchen Whitmer has let us down. The last four years have been disappointing, at best. Everything is more expensive, our communities are less safe, our job creators struggle to create jobs and many are saying they think the American dream in the state of Michigan is dead. Our schools are getting worse, and our roads haven’t been fixed. I’m sure you remember the promises that this governor made four years ago. She’s going to try to attack me to distract from her record of broken promises. But I’m going to focus on the future. I’m going to talk about how to make Michigan freer and more prosperous. We’re going to forge a family-friendly future.”

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan governor election 2022: Where Whitmer, Dixon stand