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The push by some Republicans in Michigan to recall Gov. Gretchen Whitmer may be backfiring \u2013 and helping to fuel fundraising by the first-term Democrat who is running for reelection next year.<\/p>\n
Whitmer\u2019s reelection campaign announced on Monday that the governor hauled in an eyepopping $8.6 million in fundraising from Jan. 1 through July 20, breaking a record for a Michigan gubernatorial incumbent or candidate in an off-election year.<\/p>\n
A good chunk of the governor\u2019s change came from some top-dollar donors who were able to give more than the normal legal limit, due to a caveat.<\/p>\n
Michigan law dictates that the maximum amount an individual donor can contribute to a gubernatorial campaign committee is $7,150. But Whitmer\u2019s been able to circumvent the legal limits due to a 1984 state ruling that says contribution limits didn\u2019t apply to governors \u2013 such as Whitmer \u2013 who are defending themselves against recall efforts.<\/p>\n
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\n FILE – In this July 12, 2021, file photo Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks at a vaccine mobilization event in Detroit. Gov. (AP Photo\/Andrew Harnik, File)\n <\/p>\n
Whitmer\u2019s campaign noted that nearly 30 recall petitions have been filed against the governor, mostly by those on the right who were furious over the restrictions she implemented last year amid the coronavirus pandemic. <\/p>\n
Fewer than 1% of Whitmer\u2019s contributions this year were above the normal limit of $7,150, according to an analysis by Michigan Campaign Finance Network Executive Director Simon Schuster. But Schuster told MLive.com that the donations from contributors giving over the normal limit \u2013 thanks to the recall carveout \u2013 accounted for nearly 44% of her 2021 fundraising haul. According to his preliminary calculations, Whitmer would have raised $5.9 million instead of $8.6 million if contributions were capped at $7,150.<\/p>\n
Some GOP strategists in Michigan are calling on recall activists to power down.<\/p>\n
Among them is Fred Wszolek, a veteran Republican consultant who\u2019s currently advising the 2022 campaign of Tudor Dixon, one of the leading Republicans challenging the governor.<\/p>\n
“Every grassroots conservative in MI should turn up the heat on the various Recall Whitmer activists to pack it in now,” Wszolek urged on Twitter this week. “They’re not going to succeed, and they’re strengthening her by the day. They knew this could happen. It is. Enough.”<\/p>\n
Michigan isn\u2019t the only state with a fundraising carveout for governors facing recall petitions.<\/p>\n
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California \u2013 who\u2019s facing a September recall election in the Golden State \u2013 has used loopholes in his state\u2019s laws to bring in millions in fundraising for big bucks donors as he fights to keep his job.<\/p>\n