Republican gubernatorial candidate John James is circulating his first general election ad of the cycle, looking to paint a contrast piece between him and his opponent, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
The ad, which will run on both TV and digital platforms, focuses on combating Michigan’s national rankings: the economy ranked 43rd and education ranked 45th, with James saying: “our kids can’t read and young people are leaving.” He says this is what Lansing Democrats have created after eight years in control.
He says Benson and U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed “believe in crazy things.” The ad mirrors a main criticism James has had of Benson in the last few weeks: her support of the Democratic ticket, including El-Sayed after the primary.
The Republican Party has been laser focused on lobbing attacks at El-Sayed for weeks and has been touting a campaign message of “common sense versus crazy,” calling the “new” Democratic party in the state “socialist” or “communist.”
James says in the ad that these ideals will “drive us apart and make Michigan worse.”
“We will fix our education, make Michigan affordable, and take back our place as the home of the American dream,” James says in the ad.
The James campaign is heading into what looks to be a hard-fought battle in advertisement spending leading up to November, being outraised significantly by the Benson campaign. While the James campaign put out its own ads in the primary race, James also has the backing of Mission Michigan, a DeVos family PAC that has done some heavy lifting for his ad buys.
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