Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at first appeared to be a Democratic star for her handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, she’s running neck and neck with a little-known GOP challenger.
A recent Detroit Free Press/Epic MRA poll shows Whitmer leading her GOP challenger James Craig 45% to 44% in an early poll of the 2022 gubernatorial race. This is despite Craig, who served as Detroit’s police chief from 2013 to 2021, being unknown by 52% of those polled.
Perhaps Craig crashes and burns as more media attention and opposition research is focused on him. But the poll shows that Whitmer is not in a good position. Looking at her handling of the pandemic, it isn’t hard to see why.
Whitmer ordered nursing homes to accept COVID-19-positive patients, a policy she refused to admit was a failure when even New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had walked it back in his own state. Whitmer issued a series of ridiculous edicts, banning the sale of paint and gardening equipment at the start of the pandemic. And, as most control-obsessed governors did, she violated her own restrictions on public gatherings.
At the time, her heavy-handedness made her a contender to be Joe Biden’s running mate. But then lockdown fatigue arrived in Michigan, as Whitmer and health officials recognized this past April, and Whitmer’s approval rating has been dropping this year.
The 2022 election cycle will be a much more GOP-friendly environment than the 2018 “blue wave” that got Democrats, including Whitmer, elected across the country. And while a pandemic doesn’t exactly make it easy, she hasn’t helped herself in her over two years at the helm.
John James showed that a strong GOP candidate could compete in Michigan in unfavorable national environments. With the 2022 election cycle shaping up to favor Republicans and Craig polling even with Whitmer despite being a relative unknown, Craig may simply need to be a viable candidate. Whitmer has set herself up for failure, but it will be on Craig and state Republicans to capitalize on it.
