Gretchen Whitmer Is Under Water In Her Promise To Revive Michigan’s Manufacturing Sector
“The data is in and it shows Gretchen Whitmer has been ineffective at bringing the jobs of tomorrow needed in Michigan today,” said Gustavo Portela, MIGOP Deputy Chief of Staff and Communications Director. “Our state is still reeling from her disastrous lockdowns that shuttered small businesses and she’s yet to prove that Michigan can compete for big jobs and big investments in our workforce. Add this to the list of reasons why she must be fired this fall and replaced with a Republican governor who will be a friend to small businesses and compete at the national level with other states for new investments.”
Reporters Have Now Noticed That Whitmer Is Failing To Deliver On Manufacturing
- The Detroit News’ Breana Noble, Daniel Howes and Chad Livengood: “An automotive gold rush for megasites making EVs, batteries and related parts has fueled announcements mostly in states and provinces other than the home of the city that put America on wheels — even from its hometown automakers.”
- Detroit News editorial headline: “Michigan not ready to compete for EV future.”
- The Detroit Free Press’ Phoebe Wall Howard and Dave Boucher reported that Ford will be investing $3.7 million in electric vehicles creating 6,200 jobs but reported that nearly half of the jobs and investment will be leaving the state for Ohio and Missouri.
- MLive’s Lindsay Moore described Whitmer losing an electric vehicle contract to Indiana as a “tough loss after the state funneled $1 billion in state funds to attract large business projects.”
- MLive headline: “The state must ‘raise the level of our game’”
Whitmer Failed To Attract The Semiconductor Industry To Michigan – Instead She Focused On Fundraising For Her Campaign
- At Mackinac, WOOD-TV’s Rick Albin confronted Whitmer on her poor performance in keeping costs down and reviving Michigan’s jobs economy; Whitmer’s response was that she is trying to “lure” semiconductor companies to do business in Michigan.
- In 2021, Whitmer skipped out on a presidential visit from Joe Biden when Biden went to Detroit to promote electric vehicle production.
- Whitmer’s excuse for not attending the event with Biden was that she was meeting with semiconductor industry leaders trying to draw some of their business into Michigan.
- However, according to Michigan Campaign Finance records, Whitmer used that time in California to fundraise for her reelection.
- In 2022, Whitmer traveled to Washington to see Joe Biden to get his help to bring semiconductor manufacturing to Michigan but lost out to Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) who created a more business friendly environment.
- Whitmer asked Biden for help securing semiconductor manufacturing in Michigan.
- This comes after Governor Mike DeWine secured a $20 billion deal with Intel to build semiconductor manufacturing plants in the Columbus area.
- Ohio offered Intel pro-business incentives to come to Ohio.
Whitmer Failed To Attract The Electric Vehicle Industry To Michigan
- In April, Stellantis announced that they will be opening up a second electric vehicle battery plant and chose Kokomo, Indiana over two locations in Michigan.
- Detroit News: “The investment would mean Michigan has failed to win any battery plants from the transatlantic automaker’s first round of gigafactory investments.”
- Both Monroe County and Wayne County put in a bid for the factory.
- Stellantis chose Indiana because they provided favorable business incentives.
- Whitmer is sitting on $500 million in cash grants which Republicans in the legislature set aside to “help seal economic development deals.”
- Earlier this year, Stellantis and LG announced a $4.1 billion investment in Ontario building electric vehicle batteries in Windsor, just across the river from Detroit creating 2,500 Canadian jobs.
- Whitmer secured a smaller $1.7 billion deal with LG which will create a much smaller 1,200 jobs in Holland.
- The Detroit News: “Michigan has missed out on another electric-vehicle battery plant – this time, to its neighbor across the Detroit River.
- In 2021, Whitmer failed to place a bid on a Ford Motor Company electric vehicle expansion.
- Ford decided to open up factories in Tennessee and Kentucky, an $11.4 billion investment which created 11,000 jobs between those states.
- The Detroit News Editorial: “Michigan not ready to compete for EV future.”
- Whitmer refused to take responsibility for losing out on Ford’s electric vehicle manufacturing expansion.
Michigan’s Manufacturing Economy Has Slowed
- 27,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost since Whitmer became governor.
- Last month, Michigan lost manufacturing jobs.