Tudor Dixon

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. — Tudor Dixon, a former conservative media personality and now the Republican nominee for governor in Michigan, paused during a ...

Fred Starcher, 61, a truck driver, said he had only recently heard of Ms. Dixon, but was hopeful that she would ease the financial burdens of the working class. Ms. Whitmer has seized on the issue and made it a centerpiece of her campaign. At an elementary school in Sterling Heights, Mich., on Tuesday, two Republican voters struggled to remember Ms. Dixon’s name, though they intended to cast a ballot for her. A Republican governor would make a difference.” Ms. Whitmer has drawn criticism from conservatives over rising inflation, her handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the perpetually run-down state of Michigan’s roads. Ms. Dixon, a relative unknown who was previously an executive at her family’s steel company, suffers from a lack of name recognition in the state, even within her own party. The sweeping rejection by Kansas voters on Tuesday of a constitutional amendment that would have let state legislators ban or significantly restrict abortion has further elevated issues of reproductive rights, which could be an especially potent issue in Michigan in the general election. “Michigan needs help. “I think she’d be for the blue collar. Don VanSyckel, a member of the board of commissioners in the Republican stronghold of Macomb County, said he had favored one of Ms. Dixon’s opponents in the primary, and remained doubtful that Ms. Dixon was qualified for the job. She wanted to acknowledge one factor that helped catapult her to victory: a late-breaking endorsement from former President Donald J. Trump. Ms. Dixon has said that abortion should only be allowed if necessary to save the life of a mother, and that she would not support exceptions for rape or incest.