GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — As a mother of four daughters, Tudor Dixon’s top priority in campaigning for governor has always been the same.
“First and foremost, education,” she says in an interview just before going on stage for one of her final campaign rallies. “To get our kids back on track.”
Dixon hasn’t been quiet about her contempt for current Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s policies on COVID-19, least of all how they interrupted learning at Michigan schools.
“The latest numbers are saying we’ve lost three decades of reading progress in the state of Michigan,” she added.
Dixon, who wants to use state tax dollars to fund education at private, charter and religious schools, and wants to establish an education savings fund to do so, also noted she wouldn’t directly change the curriculum at any public Michigan schools although she’s been critical of what’s being taught in them.
“Really, we’re not talking about curriculum, we’re talking about these side pieces of information that are coming in,” she said. “We’re talking about making sure that we’re preventing that kind of information from getting to the children, that’s something that you see some legislators have already drafted up bills on that. So we’re looking at their bills to make sure that we can work with the legislature on that.”
A critic of some race, sex and gender studies being taught in schools, Dixon said she would defer to the legislature for any sweeping input on the state’s curriculum. The GOP-led legislature has made recent attempts to influence what is taught in schools.
Dixon is also a proponent of removing some books from schools or public libraries.
“What I've heard from parents across the state is inappropriate content in school libraries, that's the biggest concern that I'm hearing about,” said Dixon during a debate hosted by FOX17 and Scripps Media. “And we're talking about sexual content. We're talking about pornography in schools.”
Dixon has also been critical of the governor’s handling of COVID-19 and of how long the state kept students in a remote learning setting. The governor was stripped of her unilateral emergency powers at the end of 2020, but the state Health and Human Services Department continued to issue guidance on remote learning. During the same debate, Dixon said parents would be outraged by Governor Whitmer’s on-stage claim that kids were only out of school for three months.
“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 responded on the debate stage.
“Imagine how heated parents are when they know that some of their kids were out of school in 2022,” she said of the exchange again at her rally a week later. “It was dishonest.”
With abortion access on the ballot in November, Dixon will be voting against Proposal 3, a ballot initiative seeking to codify abortion rights in the state’s constitution. She’s expressed concerns about parts of the initiative, including sections covering parental consent.
Dixon said though, even if Proposal 3 is approved by midterm voters or courts decide to keep abortion legal in the state, she’d support existing laws as governor.
“Absolutely, that’s what I’ve said before multiple times,” she said. “I think that’s the interesting thing about this ballot this time is that if they want to choose that extreme measure for abortion they can.”
“Let me be clear,” she continued, “whatever the law is, I will support the law. I don’t write the law, I don’t write legislation.”
Dixon has proposed a number of things to bring relief to Michiganders struggling with decades-high costs. She’s proposed repealing the state’s retirement tax and phasing out the state’s personal income tax as she notes nine other states have done. She’s also proposed giving Michigan drivers a gas tax holiday that was vetoed by the governor this spring.
WATCH our full interview with Dixon:
And on roads themselves, Dixon says Governor Whitmer didn’t do enough to uphold her 2018 campaign promise to rebuild Michigan’s crumbling infrastructure.
“We have to make sure that we include that in our annual budget,” she said. “Michigan has been kind of remiss in making sure that that budget is set for maintenance.”
As the November 8th vote draws closer, several lawsuits filed in Michigan have already cast doubt that the process will be a fair one and Dixon has echoed claims in the past that the 2020 election was subject to widespread fraud.
“I am concerned that this is a trend with [Secretary of State] Jocelyn Benson, but I know we have a lot of boots on the ground,” said Dixon. “I have to see how she runs the election.”
For more information on the Tudor Dixon campaign, click here.
The midterm elections will take place on Tuesday, November 8th. Polls are open in Michigan from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.
