Democrats and Republicans are hurling allegations of incompetence and questionable decisions at each other’s candidate for Michigan governor.
Congressman John James and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson are locked in a tight race to succeed outgoing Governor Gretchen Whitmer in November’s general election.
Republican James slammed Democrat Benson’s performance as Secretary of State Wednesday, pointing to thousands of misprinted drivers’ licenses and hundreds of non-U.S. citizens that a state audit found had been on Michigan’s voter rolls before being canceled.
“It is either incompetence, corruption, or both, and either one is disqualifying to be the governor of the state of Michigan,” said James.
Benson’s campaign defended her record as Secretary of State, claiming she has cut wait times at branch offices and made Michigan a national model for secure, transparent elections.
“For the past eight years, Jocelyn Benson has proved she knows how to fix broken systems, “said Benson Press Secretary Rajan Srinivasan.
As for the misprinted driver's licenses, the campaign blamed a third party vendor for the error. Pointing out the Secretary of State office identified the error, corrected it, and has sent out new IDs.
Democratic Party officials in turn criticized James for allegedly failing to report scores of stock trades as required by federal law.
James "traded hundreds of stocks over his time in Congress and broke the law by failing to disclose 145 trades," said Michigan Democratic Party spokesman Derrick Honeyman.
"In June, his family bought stocks in Elon Musk’s SpaceX, even as James sits on a committee that oversees the company,” Honeyman said.
James dismissed the allegations, claiming they have previously been “debunked.”
“I never traded a single stock. But when I heard about it, we owned up to it. We went to ethics and now I’m in compliance,” said James.
