FIRST ON FOX: Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon is stepping back into Michigan politics, this time as the public face of a new multi-million dollar PAC aimed at boosting Republicans in one of the nation’s most critical swing states.
“Michigan is going to be one of the critical battleground states for ‘26 and ‘28,” Dixon told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview announcing her role with United We Fund, a political action committee backed by millions of dollars that will be heavily involved in Michigan’s open races for governor, attorney general, secretary of state and key seats in the House and Senate.
Dixon was the Republican nominee for governor of Michigan in 2022, emerging as a Trump-backed conservative challenger to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in one of the country’s highest-profile gubernatorial races. Since her defeat, Dixon has remained active as a conservative commentator, podcast host, and prominent voice in the GOP’s “America First” wing.
“We want to make sure that we not only keep it purple, but have it trending red,” she continued.
In order to do that, Dixon explained that her experience running for governor in Michigan and her monitoring of other races in the state have shown her gaps where the Republican Party can improve, particularly delayed outside spending, weak voter education efforts and struggles turning out GOP voters in non-presidential elections.
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“When I ran for office, and I think that’s kind of a critical piece of this, is having lived it yourself, I know a lot of candidates go through this and they go, ‘Okay, that didn’t work out. I’m going to walk away,’” Dixon said. “As a business person with a business background, I’ve spent the last several years saying, ‘Okay, what did we do wrong as Republicans on our side? And how do we make sure we keep fighting for our state?’”
Dixon pointed to a recent Republican loss in a Michigan state Senate special election as evidence that the party cannot afford complacency.
“We just lost a special election for the state Senate by 19 and a half points,” Dixon said. “That’s a seat that was won by the Democrats in 2022 by 6.8 points. So to think that we went down to almost a 20-point loss, we can’t afford that in the state of Michigan. We don’t want the state to turn blue. So we’re going to make sure that we not only keep it purple, but have it trending red.”
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United We Fund is positioning itself as an answer to what Dixon described as a Democratic advantage fueled by both traditional party organizations and well-funded outside groups.
“We wanted to be able to give our candidates a leg up on that so that they would have that funding and those advertisements behind them and be able target people directly with the right messages so that they actually know who the Democrats are,” Dixon explained.
Dixon also argued Republicans have failed to effectively communicate with voters in many parts of the state, particularly outside of Detroit.
“Detroit has a massive voting base and obviously, we have some questions about that whole situation there, but the Detroit voting base comes out for Democrats,” Dixon said. “They rely on that specific base, but that base does not reflect what you see in the Upper Peninsula. It certainly doesn’t reflect the values of the people that you see in northern Michigan or on the west side of the state.”
She said many conservative voters in rural Michigan feel overlooked and disconnected from Lansing, citing backlash over the proposed Goshen battery plant as an example of tensions between local communities and state leadership.
“The people of Michigan want their voices to be heard,” Dixon said. “We just have to make sure they know what’s on the ballot and what’s out there.”
Turning out eligible voters who have a history of infrequent participation in elections, known as low-propensity voters, has been the name of the game for Republicans in recent cycles. Dixon says that will be a major focus of her group in the future.
“Those voters who I would say a lot of people wish that there would be some of this Republican base that would go away, those are my people,” Dixon said. “I love them. I want to make sure that they continue to have their voice heard.”
“We want to make sure that not only are we reaching out to that Republican that comes out every time, but also to those MAGA Republicans who maybe came out for Donald Trump and they don’t necessarily come out in the midterms,” she added. “I want to make sure they know that they’re loved and their voice is important. And we want to be sure that they get to the polls this time.”