The leadup to the republican primaries against incumbent Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was hectic to say the least, with the field of 13 candidates to start with now down to 5, and Trump having chosen his candidate to back. But not all of Trump’s fanbase is happy with his chosen endorsement, some referring to her as a RINO (Republican in name only) and an establishment candidate, as well as expressing anger at her having been funded in part by Betsy DeVos, the former U.S secretary of Education who resigned the day after the infamous January 6 riot. Despite the lack of support from more far-right MAGA supporters, her campaign runs on traditional conservative values widely agreed with by many republicans.

On her campaign website, she describes herself as “a businesswoman, breast-cancer survivor, and working mom of four girls”. She formerly worked in the steel industry, before branching into starting her own conservative news outlet, factored around concern for the “indoctrination of children in our schools,” before eventually merging with a larger conservative network.

She goes on to explain her aversion to the Whitmer-imposed lockdowns, citing her knowledge from her experience in factories that caused her to recognize the economic damage these lockdowns would have on working-class families. She also brings up how her grandmother passed away in a locked-down nursing home, and Dixon and her daughters could only “wave goodbye through the outside window before Nana passed,” before stating that she decided to take on “Big Gretch” herself in the 2022 Governor elections.

Her political positions are not unlike those of many GOP candidates. She heavily emphasizes the idea of indoctrination happening in our schools, and wants to see more parental involvement and choice in education. Additionally, she supports the heavily-debated idea of a voucher system being implemented to allow public dollars to support private school tuitions. 

In another school-related debate on the solution to mass shootings in schools, such as the one that occurred in Oxford, Michigan last year, she once again takes a conservative stance, stating that she would like to see schools implement a one entry access point system, as well as the addition of safety resource officers on campuses, something with limited proven effectiveness in stopping shootings in the past. 

Her stance on abortion is similar to many other conservatives like her, with a key uniqueness on her focus on the wording of the petition to cement abortion rights in the constitution of the state of Michigan, namely the words “health care professional.” She states that the term is broad enough that dentists could be performing abortions under this law. When asked if she thinks that is realistic, she explains her belief that predators could use this law to force their victims to remove any evidence of their abuse. 

But the main point of contention in her campaign is her back-and-forth answers on whether she agrees with the big lie that the election was stolen from former president Trump. While once stating her agreement, as time goes on, news outlets have reported her becoming more deflecting of questions on her stance, likely due to the proceedings of the January 6th hearings. It appears to be a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation, considering either answer will cause animosity from one side or the other.

All in all, her views are similar to those of modern Trump-era conservatives, with the main thing that separated her from her peers in the polls being Trump’s endorsement, as well as the rumors of it coming beforehand. Despite her endorsement, however, most polls currently put incumbent Whitmer at a ten-point lead.