• John James and Mike Cox absent from Kochville Township debate
  • Four other candidates agreed on cutting government and taxes but were less specific on replacing revenue
  • Other agrees of agreement included school choice, reserving renewable energy citing laws

KOCHVILLE TOWNSHIP — Republican hopefuls for Michigan governor shared plenty of common ground during a forum Thursday night, pledging to cut government and taxes and increase government transparency.

They were less specific about how — or whether — they would replace gaping revenue holes if tax cuts materialized.

So it went at Saginaw Valley State University, where four of six GOP candidates agreed on most major issues, but varied in what they said was possible under their leadership.

The primary is Aug. 4 for the Nov. 3 general election.

Bridge Michigan readers have cited affordability as a top issue in the campaigm, according to Bridge Listens, an unscientific survey of top concerns in the 2026 election. Taxes has been mentioned by about 5% of readers, compared to 29% who cited affordability.

 Vote on top issues in Michigan

Here are quick takeaways from the forum. 

Perry Johnson beats the spending drum

Calling term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer a “spendthrift” and promising to “audit every dime” the state spends, businessman Perry Johnson pitched big cuts to the state’s $82 billion budget. 

It was his first forum with other candidates since announcing his campaign this year. He mentioned his pledge to cut the state’s 4.25% income tax 11 times in the roughly 70-minute event, but did not say how the state would make up the $13 billion in lost revenue. 

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On a question about how to create more affordable housing, Johnson returned to his refrain.

“What I want people to leave with tonight is to feel that every family can become richer if you can cut this ridiculous expense that goes on in our government,” Johnson said.

When a coterie of supporters chanted a campaign slogan after his opening statement, Johnson, a self-funded candidate, quipped, “These are just my supporters — I don’t think I paid them off.”

Notable absences 

Two candidates in the race, former attorney general Mike Cox and US Rep. John James, didn’t attend the forum. 

Cox bowed out due to a recent death in his family, while James was in Washington, DC, ahead of a vote on a war powers resolution in Congress.

Early polling has James leading all candidates and he’s taken some flak for skipping forums in October. This time, James held a tele-town hall targeted to Saginaw 30 minutes before the forum.

While James’ name wasn’t mentioned on stage Thursday evening, Johnson released an ad attacking James earlier in the day, calling him a career politician and claiming James wasn’t capable of the size of cuts he had planned for state government. 

Not much daylight 

Before an audience of largely Republican delegates and activists, the candidates didn’t disagree on nearly any policy. 

Former House Speaker Tom Leonard, referencing a prior campaign plan, said Michigan should issue a one-year moratorium on all data centers because “they should not be coming in here driving up your energy rates” and instigating the installation of more renewable energy.

On cutting property taxes, pastor Ralph Rebandt went the furthest. Like candidate Karla Wagner, he said property taxes should be completely eliminated.

Tax cuts help “everybody, not just the wealthy,” Rebandt said, and said he would “get rid of unfunded mandates” to lessen the burden on local governments. 

He didn’t say how public schools would remain solvent after eliminating property taxes, but suggested parents should instead pay for their children’s schooling directly.

“A Rebandt administration is going to run really simply,” he said, “just whatever (Whitmer) did, we’re going to cancel it out.”

Johnson, meanwhile, promised to “cut”  and “reform” property taxes without saying how much, but later noted “we can’t eliminate the property tax without a constitutional amendment.”

While Rebandt joined Johnson’s call to eliminate the income tax, Nesbitt and Leonard — both of whom have been in the budget-making process as lawmakers— have not floated the same proposal. 

Expanding opportunities for schools of choice in Michigan also had unanimous support, but Leonard noted that fully expanding school choice, where “the money follows the child” to any type of school would require a constitutional amendment.

Michigan is among 11 states with little oversight requirements for children who are homeschooled. Leonard said “whoever’s up here as the next governor, better fight every day to preserve and protect a parent’s right to homeschool.”

Transparency bonanza 

Candidates said they would make transparency advocates’ dreams come true by going further than simply opening the Legislature and governor’s office to Freedom of Information Act requests.

Michigan and Massachusetts are the only two states that exempt those lawmakers from records requests.

Leonard noted his chamber had passed a records expansion during his tenure, though it died in the Senate.

Leonard said lawmakers should be banned from fundraising on days when the Legislature is in session, “because, frankly, we should not even have the perception in this state that there is pay-to-play.”

He also wanted to require every state employee to return to their offices full-time, following complaints that Whitmer has been slow to order state workers back to Lansing after the pandemic.

Leonard said he would wire every employee’s desk phone so that, “on the fourth ring, if they don’t pick up, it goes directly to the department head’s cell phone, because they’ve got to be accountable to you.”

Rebandt said that, as governor, he would fire any employee that signs a non-disclosure agreement, a reference to the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s often opaque attempts to land major investment deals for the state.

Nesbitt: Bipartisanship unnecessary

Answering a question about how to achieve bipartisan results, Senate Majority Leader Aric Nesbitt insisted that wouldn’t be necessary if he became governor.

His plan to get things done with all political persuasions would be to “turn Michigan to a red state”

“We win, they lose,” Nesbitt said.

At the forum was Jason Tunney, the Republican nominee for the 35th state Senate district, if victorious in an upcoming May special election, would evenly divide the chamber with Democrats, 19-19. 

“I’m running for governor — come on,” Nesbitt responded, when asked if his answers applied as leader of the Senate Republican caucus. 

“I’m trying to make sure that we don’t have a more liberal, less competent governor, which would be Jocelyn Benson,” he said, referring to Michigan’s secretary of state who is the frontrunner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

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