Michigan nor the Midwest were mentioned on stage, but some hot issues affecting this state were during a Republican primary debate Wednesday in Milwaukee.
On climate change, only former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson raised a hand when moderators asked the eight candidates if they accepted that the problem was real and influenced by human activity.
The debate briefly touched on electric vehicle batteries and China. Two battery plants are expected in Michigan in the coming years with ties to the country: Chinese battery maker Gotion is building a plant near Big Rapids, and Ford is partnering with a Chinese company to make batteries in Marshall.
Candidates didn’t single out the plants, but they did note that China greatly leads the market in EV battery production.
“These green subsidies that [President Joe] Biden has put in, all he’s done is help China because he doesn’t understand ... half of the batteries for electric vehicles are made in China,” said Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations.
And North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum argued this imbalance as the U.S. shifts from fossil fuels to electric vehicles threatens national security.
“If we’re going to stop buying oil from the Middle East and start buying batteries from China, we’re just trading OPEC for Sinopec,” Burgum said.
It was the first time top candidates met and sparred on issues from the economy to abortion to education inside the Wisconsin arena where the eventual GOP nominee will accept that honor next summer.
It was occasionally messy, as Fox News’ moderators stopped the debate multiple times to quiet the audience or keep quarreling candidates in line.
Former President Donald Trump, polling about 40 percentage points higher than anyone else, skipped the debate. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has held steady in second, but he did not capture the most attention Wednesday night.
That would be Vivek Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old entrepreneur from Ohio who came out swinging as a fiery outsider with quips for every candidate who tried attacking him.
Go deeper: GOP candidates tangle in Milwaukee as they vie to be the leading alternative to front-runner Trump
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speak during a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by FOX News Channel Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)AP
Michigan candidate Perry Johnson, whose candidacy for state governor was derailed by signature fraud, arguably has a far steeper ascent to that summit.
Already a longshot among presidential longshots, he thought he qualified for a debate that could crucially brighten his spotlight. Instead, he had to watch from afar Wednesday night.
As the other candidates got two hours to sell their platforms and push back on the competition, the 75-year-old Metro Detroit businessman who made a fortune in auto industry quality control, announced he was pushing back against the Republican National Committee for keeping him off the stage.
The RNC and Fox News, which televised Wednesday’s debate, “brazenly conspired to circumvent [federal laws and regulations] to cherry-pick debate participants for their own ends,” Johnson said in a complaint he plans to file with the Federal Elections Commission.
Candidates were required to have 40,000 unique donors and earn at least 1% in a certain number of polls. Johnson has had more than 50,000 donors, but he was one poll short.
Perry Johnson, during his ultimately failed primary campaign for Michigan governor last year, is greeted by supporters at the Kent County GOP headquarters in Grand Rapids on March 7, 2022. (Joel Bissell | MLive.com)Joel Bissell | MLive.com
Johnson and some media outlets that were tracking polls assumed that a Victory Insights national poll of 825 voters in mid-August that put Johnson at 1.1% support would count, but the RNC argued it did not survey voters in enough states.
According to his FEC complaint, Johnson says his campaign was informed of this just hours before debate invitations were sent out. Two other polls the campaign offered as qualification were also rejected.
To make the second debate – Sept. 27 in California – candidates will need to earn 3% in qualifying polls, something Johnson has yet to do.
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