• Republican gubernatorial candidates gathered for their first debate of the 2026 campaign season
  • US Rep. John James declined to attend the event, saying he would wait until the ballot is finalized
  • The candidates largely agreed on slashing the size of government and state taxes

SPARTA — Nearly all of Michigan’s Republican gubernatorial candidates say the Michigan Economic Development Corporation — the state government’s primary tool for promoting business growth — should be eliminated.

In the first of three 2025 debates organized by the state party, most 2026 primary hopefuls on Wednesday agreed on nearly every major issue. The event, held north of Grand Rapids in Sparta, centered on slashing the size of state government and lowering taxes.

The debate featured former Attorney General Mike Cox, former state House Speaker Tom Leonard, Michigan Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, Pastor Ralph Rebandt, truck driver Anthony Hudson and activist Karla Wagner.

US Rep. John James, whose campaign called him the “favorite” in the race, declined to participate, an absence Nesbitt’s campaign noted by placing a series of “missing” milk cartons on tables. 

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The debate was also a fundraiser for the Michigan Republican Party — tickets started at $50 and sponsorship topped at $10,000. Moderators Dave Bondy and Tom Jordan, both conservative media personalities, largely shied away from sensitive topics. 

There will be two more debates and party chair Jim Runestad said the questions would be “shaken up a little bit” at the next events, beginning with a Traverse City debate on Nov. 20. 

Ending the MEDC

Candidates who participated in Wednesday’s debate were nearly unanimous in their criticism of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the quasi-governmental agency embroiled in an ongoing investigation of a $20 million earmark and a series of controversial incentive deals. 

“They’re a corrupt organization giving away money,” said Nesbitt, of Porter Township, vowing the department would be “done” his first day in office, with the entire staff laid off if he were elected governor. 

Such a move would represent a marked turn from term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s multiyear, multibillion-dollar quest to land major industrial projects in the state. 

Lawmakers recently defunded one of the state’s largest corporate incentive programs, but they are expected to negotiate potential replacements with Whitmer later this year. 

“Governors and legislators don’t have the skills or talent to pick out winners and losers. It’s time we end that,” said Cox, of Livonia, who argued that lower taxes and fewer regulations would prove more attractive than cash incentives. 

Rebandt, an Oakland County pastor, said the state’s next attorney general “is going to, under my suggestion, prosecute people who are misusing your money.”

Leonard, a DeWitt Republican who led the state House in 2017 and 2018, said his approach could distinguish himself from his competition. 

“Yes, we want to eliminate the MEDC, but we also want to replace it with something that’s going to be more favorable to all businesses across the state, not be focused on handing out subsidies,” he said.

James skips debate

While nearly all the declared GOP candidates participated in the Wednesday evening debate, James was a notable absence. 

The Shelby Township Republican, who represents Michigan’s 10th Congressional District in the US House, declined to attend the debate, saying through a spokesperson he “will consider a primary debate once the field is set and will be speaking directly to Michiganders in the meantime.”

That means he’ll likely miss the next two debates as well. The primary field will not be settled until the candidate filing deadline in April. 

His absence made James a target for some of the other candidates.

“We’re still waiting to hear where John James is actually on a lot of these issues,” Nesbitt said to some applause. “It’d really be nice if the other candidate was here and actually answer some questions.”

But aside from attacks on James, the other candidates didn’t speak poorly of each other. The rules of the party-hosted event barred the attacks.

“I gotta be nice tonight so I’m going to be nice,” Hudson said before later accusing competitors of taking too much credit for low tax policies.

Turning around poor metrics 

Where Michigan struggles most among peer states — in education and population growth — were major talking points as well. 

All the candidates agreed that school choice — including opportunities for students to attend private and religious schools — should be promoted and expanded.

“We absolutely have to make it easier for people to homeschool their kids, send them to Christian school,” Wagner said. “Anything else that we can do to help these kids educate, we have to almost go backwards to build that foundation to go forward.”

The candidates also emphasized changing the way teachers instruct reading. 

Nesbitt, Cox and Rebandt all said teachers need to teach “phonics” — an approach emphasized in a new law Whitmer signed last year that focuses on the “science of reading” and gives schools until the 2027-2028 school year to incorporate evidence-based curriculums.

Cutting taxes

Slashing regulations and shrinking state government isn’t new in Michigan Republican politics, but the extent of the proposed cuts reached new heights for some of the candidates at Wednesday night’s debate. 

Eliminating all property taxes in the state — without identifying a clear replacement for billions in lost revenue that supports local governments and schools — is the centerpiece of an AxMiTax ballot campaign led by Wagner. 

Wagner touted it repeatedly as a solution to population loss and lowering the cost of housing. She called it “the beginning of DOGE in Michigan” because budgets at every level of government would be strained. 

She also falsely alleged the state government had failed to pass a balanced budget — something that’s required each year under the Michigan Constitution.

Other candidates didn’t go quite as far, though every candidate except Wagner endorsed eliminating Michigan’s 4.25% income tax — a position that had grown in popularity since the last gubernatorial election.

Wagner said she was against eliminating the income tax in favor of ending property taxes, while Rebandt said he would eliminate both. 

Odds and ends

Rebandt promised a gold-based “transactional currency” to counter what he described as a worldwide transition to a “digital currency global bank.”

Hudson said that if he is elected governor, he’d appoint conservative rocker Ted Nugent to lead the Department of Natural Resources.

He also said the National Guard should be sent into Dearborn, a major Muslim and Arab-American enclave near Detroit. Hudson later told Bridge Michigan he had an issue with “the whole Sharia law penetration of Dearborn,” referring to early morning calls to prayer and street celebrations from Muslim-American residents.

“We’re not going down there to wipe people out and send them out of the country, just to make sure that they are abiding by the laws of that township or that city ordinance,” Hudson said. 

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