Bickering, electability, Trump take center stage at first of back-to-back GOP gubernatorial debates

In the first of two debates this week in the Republican gubernatorial primary, U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Twp.), businessman Perry Johnson and former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox faced off in a debate hosted by Fox 2 Detroit. 

While the candidates largely agreed on a slew of issues — cutting or eliminating taxes in Michigan, shrinking the state’s budget and supporting the agenda of President Donald Trump — personal attacks thrown between all three candidates were the focus of the conversation. 

Moderator Roop Raj repeatedly asked candidates to stop speaking over each other — but James began his opening statement by saying that his opponents would be attacking him from the get go.

“Tonight, you’re going to hear a lot of things,” James said. “I’m going to be focusing on you. My opponents are going to be focused on me. So, while we’re attacking the issues, they’re going to be attacking me, because frankly, resorting to deceit and defamation is what they do, because they’re desperate.”

This was James’ first formal debate of the campaign, a fact which his competitors have criticized him heavily for in past forums.  

Spat over qualifications and electability

Cox has frequently cited his own electoral background, having won statewide office as attorney general twice, in 2002 and 2006, as proof to Michigan voters that he can prevail in a general election against a Democrat — and he repeatedly referenced James’ losses in U.S. Senate races in 2018 and 2020 as reason to vote against him. 

“Congressman James seems very defensive, even despite having the president’s endorsement. Perhaps because the last two times he had the president’s endorsement, he squandered it and lost at the end of the day. Michigan Republicans need to nominate and elect a winner,” Cox said in response to a question about how he would respond to a potential disagreement with Trump. “He respects people who built their own business, I built my own business, instead of being a trust fund baby, a nepo baby. He respects winners, and I will win and fight for the people of Michigan.”

But James pushed back on those criticisms, calling them “shameful.”

James also attacked Johnson for what he said was outsourcing jobs overseas — flipping on its head one of Johnson’s main arguments for himself that, as a self-funded candidate, he is not beholden to any corporate or outside interests. 

“When he says that he’s not funding his campaign, you are, from the billions that he made shipping your jobs over to China and Mexico,” he said.

Cox quickly countered by reiterating an attack that he levied on Tuesday that James’ business has imported over 900 shipments from China during his tenure in Congress. 

James has repeatedly said Cox’s allegations are false.

“We work for Ford Motor Company, General Motors,” he said. “Our company focuses on exporting parts, so we keep our jobs here.”

“No one’s ever accused me of exporting American jobs and outsourcing,” Cox shot back after all three candidates spoke over each other for minutes as moderator Raj repeatedly interrupted the candidates to restore order. 

Loyalty to Trump still paramount after endorsement

Trump endorsed James in late June — a point that he mentioned throughout the debate — but loyalty to the president was still a key point among all three candidates. 

Asked how he would respond to a situation in which a Trump administration policy was harming Michigan, Johnson questioned if and how that could ever happen. 

“The great thing about President Trump is that you can sit down there and reason with him, so you discuss with him, he’s very rational,” he continued. “What is the number one thing that we have to do? Well, we have to get rid of all this waste. Let’s be realistic. We are taxed to death right now.”

Meanwhile, asked if there was a policy issue on which they disagreed with Trump, Cox was the only candidate who identified a specific policy — the SALT, or State and Local Tax, deduction that allows taxpayers to deduct property, income or sales taxes paid to state and local governments from federal taxable income. But he also drew attention to his experience defending Trump in court as evidence of his overarching support of the president’s agenda. 

All three candidates, however, were largely aligned with Trump — though James attempted to set himself apart, including by calling into question Cox’s stance on 2020 election denialism.

“He would also probably say that President Trump lost in 2020 when the election was rigged, I wonder if he admits that,” James said, referencing Trump’s repeated false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. “The fact of the matter is, Mike Cox hasn’t won an election since before the iPhone was invented, and the last election that he ran statewide became a distant third place. So, frankly, we need to own up to reality.”

The race to support the president is not a surprise. Republican primaries nationwide have shown that opposition to Trump’s policies can be a political death sentence — even as general elections nationwide have favored Democrats since Trump’s inauguration in January 2025. 

Political insiders ask questions, Democrats call debate chaotic

Of the four questions asked from the small live studio audience in metro Detroit, three came from Michigan political insiders. Former Mike Duggan campaign spokesperson Andrea Bitely, Republican political consultant Jamie Roe, and former James spokesperson Abby Mitch — none of whom were identified by their affiliations — were all called to ask questions of the candidates, which raised questions and concerns from reporters during and after the debate. 

Democrats also quickly called the debate evidence of an “incredibly weak bench of candidates for governor that are each too extreme for Michigan.”

“Whether it was peddling debunked claims about the 2020 election or constantly bickering with each other, this debate went off the rails,” Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel said in a press release following the debate. “No matter who ultimately emerges from this MAGA primary, John James, Perry Johnson, and Mike Cox have made themselves inseparable from the corrupt, cost-raising president and shown they are wrong for our state. Michigan Democrats look forward to defeating whichever one of these candidates ends up as the Republican nominee.”

Cox, James and Johnson will all face off in a second debate Thursday in Grand Rapids, hosted by WOOD TV.