DEBATE: Whitmer can’t defend her record

In the first debate of the general election, voters got to see firsthand the stark differences between Gretchen Whitmer’s tenure of broken roads and broken promises that has led to failing schools, skyrocketing crime, and 82,000 lost jobs, and Tudor Dixon’s vision for Michigan that will always put families first.

Whitmer’s agenda is out of touch with voters and Michigan simply cannot afford four more years of failed leadership. Tudor Dixon proved tonight that she is the clear choice to move Michigan forward.

Take a look at the highlights from Dixon’s victory in tonight’s debate:

WATCH: Gretchen Whitmer failed Michigan children with her overzealous school closures

Dixon: “She says she closed the gap, what she really did was close the schools. When we talk about making sure there is no wrong path for any child, you should know that when Detroit Public Schools kept their schools closed longer, she was silent. When Flint Public Schools closed their schools down again, Gretchen Whitmer was silent. In fact, in the midst of the pandemic when the legislature said they would give her money for reading scholarships, one of her people came out and said, ‘smelled too much like vouchers’ because they don’t want parents to have control. She doesn’t want you to have an impact on your child’s education.”

WATCH: Gretchen Whitmer supports the spirit of defund the police. Tudor Dixon will always support law enforcement

Dixon: “… we know the governor came out and said that she supports the spirit of defund the police. In fact, we know that when we were all locked down she went out and marched with folks who held up signs that said defund the police… My plan will put a billion new dollars into policing to make sure they know they’re supported, but also to recruit and retain new police officers. It’s so challenging to bring police officers to a state where the chief executive officer has supported defund the police… They will always know that a Dixon administration has their back. We will never defund the police.”

WATCH: Tudor Dixon will cut taxes and get Michigan back to work. Whitmer vetoed multiple tax cuts

Dixon: “Well, it’s very interesting that they asked about the pension tax because the governor stood here four years ago and said that she would, that that would be one of the first things that she would do, would be repeal the pension tax and that hasn’t happened in the four years that she’s been governor. In fact, the other question was would you try to get the income tax down to 3.9. The governor was actually offered two different reductions in the personal income tax to get money back in your pockets. But, she vetoed both of those. It’s not surprising, this governor has vetoed more bills than any governor for the past 70 years. So it’s not surprising, she also had the opportunity to give you a gas tax holiday and guess what, she vetoed that as well… Gretchen Whitmer wants you to pay more for gas to force you into electric vehicles.”

WATCH: Michigan has suffered enough under Gretchen Whitmer. Tudor Dixon is the clear choice

Dixon: “The governor would like you to forget how hard the last four years have been with Gretchen Whitmer. She’s shown us who she is. She stood on this very stage and said she wouldn’t raise taxes. And she tried and tried and tried again to raise your taxes over and over… This governor’s policies are radical, dangerous and destructive. Crime is up, jobs are down, schools are worse, and the roads didn’t get fixed. That’s what happens when you hire a radical career politician. You go in the wrong direction. Lansing needs common sense. We need to make sure we stop strangling our businesses and we help them to create jobs, we help them to increase salaries and we help them to be prosperous. We need to tell our parents, we’ve got your back. We want you to have the final decision on what’s happening in your child’s education. And we need to make sure that we hire more cops and they know we have their back and we’re going to get out of their way and let them do their job. But most of all, I want to make sure that we put money back into the pockets of our middle-class families. We need common sense and when you lack it, that’s all you can see.”