Dixon wins GOP governor primary, to face Whitmer

Businesswoman and conservative commentator Tudor Dixon won the Republican primary for Michigan governor on Tuesday, setting up a tough general election race against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Dixon defeated four male candidates in a race between little-known Republicans. She was endorsed by former President Donald Trump and the prominent Michigan Republican family of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, as well as the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and several anti-abortion organizations.

The mother of four made education a top issue of her campaign, saying she wants to keep drag queens and talk of sex and gender out of elementary schools. She opposes abortion, except to save the life of the mother, and says Michigan should eliminate the requirement for permits to carry concealed weapons.

Dixon is a former steel industry executive who also hosted a conservative program on a streaming channel and once acted in low-budget zombie movies in what her campaign described as an “admittedly lame” hobby. She also has backing from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, several anti-abortion groups, and the prominent Michigan Republican family of Betsy DeVos, who was education secretary in Trump’s Cabinet but was critical of him and resigned after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

– The Associated Press

Stevens ousts Levin from Congress in Democratic primary

Rep. Haley Stevens ousted Rep. Andy Levin from Congress on Tuesday after prevailing in their Democratic primary in Michigan.

Stevens’ victory came as three Republican U.S. House members who voted to impeach Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 insurrection faced primary challenges from rivals endorsed by the former president.

– The Associated Press

AG Eric Schmitt gets win over Greitens in GOP Senate race

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt defeated scandal-scarred former Gov. Eric Greitens and 19 others Tuesday in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

Republican leaders have long feared that a Greitens win would jeopardize a red state Senate seat in the November general election. Greitens resigned four years ago in the midst of a sex scandal, two criminal charges that were eventually dropped amid a very real risk of impeachment. This year, his ex-wife accused him of abuse.

Republican Sen. Roy Blunt’s announcement last year that he would not seek a third term set off a frenzy for his job, with nearly three dozen people in the two major parties filing to run. The Democratic race, largely a showdown of Marine veteran Lucas Kunce and Anheuser-Busch heiress Trudy Busch Valentine, had not yet been called.

– The Associated Press

AG wins GOP nomination to challenge Gov. Kelly

Derek Schmidt, the Kansas attorney general, handily won the Republican primary for governor, setting up a marquee general election battle against Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, in a conservative state that nevertheless has a history of electing statewide leaders from both parties.

Kelly enters the fall campaign against Schmidt as one of the most endangered Democratic governors in the country, battling for reelection in a state that President Donald Trump won by nearly 15 percentage points in 2020.

Schmidt was endorsed early in his race by Trump, and his only primary competitor was Arlyn Briggs, a little-known candidate who had faced legal trouble.

But a conservative candidate, state Sen. Dennis Pyle, has mounted an independent bid for governor and appeared poised to qualify for the November ballot, where he could siphon some votes from the right.

– The New York Times

Kansas voters protect abortion rights, block path to ban

Kansas voters on Tuesday protected the right to get an abortion in their state, rejecting a measure that would have allowed their Republican-controlled Legislature to tighten abortion restrictions or ban it outright.

The referendum in the conservative state was the first test of U.S. voter sentiment about abortion rights since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

It was a major victory for abortion rights advocates following weeks in which many states in the South and Midwest largely banned abortion.

Voters rejected a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have added language stating that it does not grant the right to abortion.

A 2019 state Supreme Court decision declared that access to abortion is a “fundamental” right under the state’s Bill of Rights, preventing a ban and potentially thwarting legislative efforts to enact new restrictions.

– The Associated Press