Tudor Dixon, MI GOP play blame game over her election loss: ‘An issue of leadership’

Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon and the Michigan GOP are pointing fingers at each other after her loss to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during the midterm elections, handing complete control of the state to Democrats for the first time in 40 years.

(Video Credit: 13 ON YOUR SIDE)

Democrats won 20 of the 38 seats in the Michigan Senate and 56 of the 110 seats in the state House. They swept the state with Whitmer winning by nearly 11 points.

Dixon torched Republican leaders after a scathing memo was leaked that was sent out by MIGOP Chief of Staff Paul Cordes to a list of “interested parties.” It purportedly claimed Dixon “started from zero” with funding and name recognition, suggesting “Dixon’s campaign had no money” and “no statewide operation.”

The Republican candidate posted screenshots of the memo on Twitter Thursday asserting that party leadership was to blame for fighting “against” her on the campaign trail.

“This is the perfect example of what is wrong with the [Michigan GOP],” Dixon tweeted. “It’s an issue of leadership – Ron Weiser, Meshawn Maddock, and Paul Cordes all refuse to take ownership for their own failures.”

“It’s easy to come out and point fingers now, but the truth is they fought against me every step of the way and put the entire ticket at risk,” she added. “We need fresh leadership at the [Michigan GOP] or Republicans will never have a voice in Michigan again.”

“Our state party failed on Let MI Kids Learn and Secure MI Vote,” Dixon charged. “Because of their failure, we now have Prop 2. We have to do better than this current incompetent leadership.”

Cordes, in turn, issued a statement to Fox News Digital, slamming Dixon and declaring that the party “did nothing but stand with her.”

“We did nothing but stand with her, so that’s a clear lie,” he bluntly stated. “We turned out more Republicans than in previous midterm elections.”

“I’m struggling to find what parts of the memo, based on data from this past Tuesday, she’s struggling with,” Cordes said. “Our memo speaks for itself.”

The memo clearly attacked Dixon, stating that it “seems nearly impossible to imagine drawing up a more challenging position for ourselves coming out of the August primary.”

“Following the August primary election, Tudor Dixon advanced as the gubernatorial nominee but was relatively unknown with low name ID and was an untested candidate,” the memo continued.

“Dixon’s campaign had no money, no statewide operations, and was attempting to transition from three weeks of working for and receiving an endorsement from Donald Trump, into a general election audience with a more unfavorable opinion of the former President Trump than of President Joe Biden,” it accused.

“Historically, our Republican gubernatorial nominees have raised several millions of dollars and built out teams during the primary, with preparations to expand an already strong operation as soon as they advance on to the general. Unfortunately, Dixon did not have that luxury. With almost no cash on hand and hard work to be done to gain the trust of the Party’s grassroots, Dixon had to start from scratch while Gretchen Whitmer and allies were sitting on tens of millions of dollars, of which they immediately deployed, blasting Dixon on statewide TV, digital, and radio throughout, early and often,” the memo stated.

The memo also attacked former President Trump and conservative issues.

“Tudor’s efforts focused largely on Republican red meat issues, in hopes of inspiring a 2020-like showing at the polls,” Cordes noted, according to The Detroit News. “There were more ads on transgender sports than inflation, gas prices, and bread-and-butter issues that could have swayed independent voters. We did not have a turnout problem — middle-of-the-road voters simply didn’t like what Tudor was selling.”

“In what many of them saw as sending a message to Donald Trump and his supporters, longtime donors to the party remained on the sidelines despite constant warnings of the possibility of the outcome we saw come to fruition on Election Day: A statewide sweep and one-party Democratic rule in Lansing, something that has not been seen in nearly 40 years in Michigan,” Cordes said.

“Countless hours spent courting donors consistently shifted into back and forths about Mar-a-Lago’s influence over our process, party and voters,” he concluded. “All while Democrats raised tens of millions of dollars and invested record amounts statewide and in legislative districts.”

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