Tudor Dixon, the Muskegon County woman who won the Republican gubernatorial nomination on Tuesday, remains a relative unknown in Michigan.
Dixson, which was endorsed by former President Donald Trump on Fridaywill look to sharply raise her profile as she takes on Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer in the November election.
Who is Tudor Dixon?
Dixon, 45, from Norton Shores, has worked in the steel industry and in the media, including appearances in horror films between 2008 and 2012 and a stint as a conservative commentator on ‘Real America’s Voice’. cable television.
Born and raised in Illinois, Dixon earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Kentucky before moving to Michigan in 2002 after her recently deceased father, Vaughn Makary, purchased the West Michigan Steel smelter in Muskegon, New York. through a bankruptcy sale and began to operate as Michigan Steel.
She says she worked for the foundry – starting in customer service and ending in sales, with time in between on the shop floor – until 2009, when she left to start a family. with her husband, Aaron, who works as a financial controller for a manufacturing company. After about seven years at home, Dixon also managed Michigan sales for Chicago-based Finkl Steel for less than two years.
Dixon is a mother of four school-aged children who have survived breast cancer.
How did Tudor Dixon get into politics?
Dixon said she was drawn to politics through her work in the media, after leaving the steel industry.
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A company co-owned by Dixon was a producer of the 2018 film “Dummycrats.” The “documentary” attack on former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and longtime California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, also a Democrat, highlighted featured the black conservative political activist sisters “Diamond and Silk”. The film was written and directed by Kyle Olson, who operated a conservative website called “The American Mirror”, is a longtime friend and adviser to Dixon, and collected campaign videos of Dixon attacking Whitmer.
Did the pandemic also guide Tudor Dixon’s policy?
Yes. Dixon says the election is “personal” for her, both because of school closures affecting her children and the death of her grandmother at a Norton Shores nursing home during the pandemic.
Dixon said his grandmother died of ‘stunted growth’ because Dixon and other relatives were barred from visiting her under state pandemic policies, even though they were vaccinated.
What is Tudor Dixon’s position on other issues?
Dixon opposes the right to abortion, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
On education, Dixon thinks Michigan’s per-student grant should follow the student, including in private schools, which would require a constitutional amendment. She was the only one of five Republican gubernatorial candidates not to call for deep cuts in higher education spending.
Early in the campaign, Dixon said changes in electoral practices in Michigan created the potential for fraud, but did not say the fraud affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential vote. Later, she said that ‘she believed that Trump was the legitimate winner of the presidential election, although as recently as Sunday, she hijacked this question.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Learn more about Michigan politics and subscribe to our election bulletin.