Democratic ad hits GOP's Tudor Dixon for conspiracy theories

CLAWSON, Mich. — A new ad from a group affiliated with the Democratic Governors Association casts Tudor Dixon, the Republican candidate for governor in Michigan, as a conspiracy theorist who denies election results and sympathizes with the Jan. 6 rioters.

“You already know Tudor Dixon would outlaw abortion,” the narrator begins, referring to Dixon’s position that abortion should only be legal when the mother’s life is at stake. “But Dixon’s extreme ideas don’t stop there.”

Dixon, a former right-wing commentator, faces Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in next week’s general election. Several recent polls have shown Whitmer leading outside the margin of error, others have indicated a much closer race.

The 30-second spot from Put Michigan First — shared first with NBC News — will air across the state as part of nearly $3 million in ad spending that the group has budgeted for Michigan through Election Day.

Titled "Denier," the ad highlights several of the statements Dixon has made on TV and radio in recent years. Among them: Her contention during a January 2022 radio interview that you “cannot say” the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump was “an insurrection.” (According to the fuller clip, accessible on the website of WILS in Lansing, Dixon suggested that the word "insurrection" should only apply if someone is charged under the insurrection act.)

Footage of the riot appears on screen along with the words "election denier," referring to past coverage of Dixon's comments on the 2020 presidential campaign. At debates during the GOP primary, Dixon answered affirmatively when asked if she believed Trump won Michigan, which went narrowly to President Joe Biden.

Dixon has also has embraced disproven theories that fraud and untoward efforts by Democratic officeholders tipped the election to Biden. Trump endorsed Dixon days before the August primary.

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Another audio clip, taken from a December 2020 broadcast by Real America’s Voice, the conservative network where Dixon previously worked, includes her leaning into a debunked conspiracy theory during the height of the pandemic that a person's health or vaccination status might be tracked on “a chip that they insert inside of you.”

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“Instead of bringing people together to solve actual issues, Tudor Dixon has a long and extreme record of spewing dangerous conspiracy theories for the sole purpose of creating division and chaos,” Put Michigan First Spokesperson Sam Newton said in a statement accompanying the ad.

Put Michigan First has been the biggest spender in Michigan’s race for governor, according to AdImpact, an ad-tracking firm. The DGA-affiliated organization has spent nearly $27 million on ads since the primary, with another $2.8 million committed through Election Day. 

Dixon and her GOP allies have combined to spend only $6.7 million in that period, with about $1.5 million reserved through the general election.