STERLING HEIGHTS MI (WTVB) – Republican gubernatorial nominee John James launched a fierce attack on his opponent, Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, during a campaign event at his Sterling Heights campaign office.
Seeking to replace outgoing Governor Gretchen Whitmer in the upcoming November election, James slammed Benson’s nearly eight-year administrative record, labeling recent bureaucratic blunders as “disqualifying”.
Accompanied by his running mate Jay DeBoyer and Secretary of State candidate Anthony Forlini, James highlighted a major software snafu involving 8,200 misprinted state ID cards and cited an audit finding hundreds of non-U.S. citizens on voter rolls.
James told a room full of supporters “It is either incompetence, corruption, or both, and either one is disqualifying to be the governor of the state of Michigan,”
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Benson’s campaign and the Michigan Democratic Party quickly fired back to defend her record and redirect the scrutiny toward James.
A Benson spokesperson said that Benson has cut branch office wait times and turned Michigan into a “national model” for secure elections, adding that the ID card misprints stemmed from a third-party vendor error that her office caught and immediately corrected.
Meanwhile, Democratic Party spokesman Derrick Honeyman pivoted the offensive, calling James a “liar” and accusing him of breaking federal transparency laws by failing to report 145 congressional stock trades. James dismissed the stock allegations as “debunked,” claiming he had no control over the associated trust but has since worked with House ethics officials to ensure total compliance.
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