More than 150 prominent Republicans in Michigan have launched a campaign effort to aid democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer’s re-election bid.
The governor touted the support of ‘Republicans for Whitmer’ on Monday in her race against Tudor Dixon, the Republican gubernatorial nominee. Dixon who has faced criticisms for her hardline anti-abortion positions, according to The Detroit News.
[READ: Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate says rape victims find ‘healing’ through giving birth.]
“We care about democracy. We care about decency. And we care about individual freedom,” Whitmer said. “We may not agree on everything but these are fundamental to who we have been in Michigan and who we need to continue to be.”
The group includes several former GOP lawmakers, business owners, staff and appointees of ex-Republican Govs. John Engler and Rick Snyder. Among them are Bill Parfet, CEO and chairman of the Northwood Group; Jim Haveman, a former state health director under Engler and Snyder; former state Reps. Doug Hart and Mike Pumpford and former U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz.
“No more fighting,” Parfet said in a statement. “Among those running for election in November, there exists a group of individuals — some Democrats, some Republicans — that are willing to work together to find a common middle-ground where progress can be made. … The best person to lead that effort is Governor Gretchen Whitmer.”
Dixon’s communications director Sara Broadwater slammed the effort in a statement saying Dixon would take the support of her grassroots followers over “Lansing’s big government cocktail crowd any day of the week.”
“We are attracting the support of business owners who had their livelihoods crushed by Whitmer, law enforcement officials who can no longer take the radical bent of today’s Democrat Party that sides with Defund the Police, and parents who had their children locked out of schools by this cruel, heartless governor,” Broadwater said.
A recent poll shows Whitmer with a 13-point lead over Dixon.
