(Source: MIRS.news, Published 10/16/2024) Democrats tried to claim Dick DeVos and Rick Snyder had business dealings in China when they ran for Governor in 2006 and 2010. Republican Pete Hoeksta tried to use American spending on Chinese goods against U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) in her 2012 re-election bid.
This year, Republicans and Democrats are equal-opportunity exploiters when it comes to trying to tie their opponents to China while showing they're running to “get tough on China.”
Republicans are criticizing Democrats for allegedly throwing taxpayer money into electric vehicle (EV) companies with connections to the Chinese while being intimately involved in the planning process through a non-disclosure agreement. Democrats claim they are standing firm against sending money and jobs to China, according to new ads collected by AdImpact.
An ad for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers shows Democrat Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) posing in front of Chinese flags, rather than American flags, with the words “bought by China” showing on the screen, referencing Slotkin’s alleged record.
In her ads, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) has General Douglas Lute say the attacks on Slotkin regarding China are deceptive and false, adding that she’s made it a top priority to stand up to China.
Slotkin also says in another ad that she doesn’t want to mandate electric vehicles, but she does want the manufacturing jobs that come along with the industry to be in Michigan, not China.
Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City) says Paul Junge invested with companies that do business with China and would support tax breaks for those that send jobs to China in her ad.
“Not Kristen McDonald Rivet,” the narrator says. “That’s the choice, the person who sent jobs to China or the one who’s fighting to bring them home.
Both parties point the finger at the other’s 8th Congressional candidate for being a “millionaire” in their ads. The House Majority PAC hones in specifically on Junge’s policy stances that their ad says would ship jobs to China.
“It doesn’t get more unpatriotic than that,” an actor says. “If you’d rather create jobs in China, then run for office in Beijing.”
An anti-McDonald Rivet ad speaks to her vote on the Senate Appropriations Committee to approve using state money to help Gotion create an advanced battery plant near Big Rapids. Gotion has Chinese origins, but a majority of its ownership is based in Germany. Regard that not only was she in support of the Gotion plant, but that it would “help import Chinese workers” and give “your money to the Chinese.”
MI-7 Republican candidate Tom Barrett comes out swinging against Democratic opponent Curtis Hertel and China in his new ad. It’s another example of a Democrat being positioned in front of a Chinese flag by their Republican opponent.
“Communist China keeps me up at night, but it doesn’t seem to bother Curtis Hertel,” Barrett says, citing Hertel’s support of Michigan’s bid for a Gotion plant in the state as Gov. Whitmer's head lobbyist.
