Team,

It’s primary day in Michigan, so I wanted to send a quick note to tell you a bit about what I’ll be looking for after the polls close at 8pm.

First off: I don’t have a primary opponent, but I will be looking to see how many folks in the new district made it out to the polls, and what turnout looks like. I’ll be watching who turned out for my opponent, as well. He currently has a challenger running a self-funded write-in campaign, and he’s taking it seriously. He even got Trump’s top lieutenant in Michigan to do a last minute MAGA-themed voicemail for him to GOP voters. So I’ll be interested in seeing the numbers in his race.

But more broadly, across the state of Michigan, we’ll be learning a lot about the future of the GOP, and their path forward as a party. We had some developments this weekend, when former President Trump joined forces with the DeVos family and formally endorsed Tudor Dixon, one of the candidates running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. She has been the DeVos family’s preferred candidate for months -- the DeVos family members are also some of my opponent's strongest donors, with their support stretching across his near-decade in politics. (That's likely why he has never once supported a K-12 education budget).

The endorsement of Dixon made the front page of national newspapers – and it hasn’t exactly made some grassroots Trump supporters, who had thrown their support behind the other candidates, happy. In fact, many had specifically called for the former president to avoid working with his former Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos. This is especially interesting as a number of other primary races in Michigan have seen the DeVos family and other conservative donors join forces against Trump-backed candidates. 

Ultimately, what we’re seeing in today’s Michigan primaries is the months-long fight between Trump-style conservatives and the more traditional wing of the Republican party come to a head. We’ll have a good sense tomorrow what camp voters would like to see control the Michigan GOP.

Whatever results do come out of today’s primary will heavily influence the remaining 98 days of this campaign. So, I’m asking if you’ll chip in a few bucks to help us be as prepared as possible to take on whatever comes our way in the next few months!