Michigan gubernatorial candidate John James on Friday denounced his rival for the Republican nomination for claiming he is weaponizing race in the contest.
James, a U.S. representative since 2023 who is black and endorsed by President Donald Trump, appears to be the GOP’s frontrunner in the increasingly combative campaign to succeed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), ahead of the August 4 primary election. One of his top rivals for the nomination, businessman Perry Johnson, has repeatedly accused him of seeking to benefit from his race during the campaign, calling him a “DEI candidate” and accusing him of “using the race card.”
James responded on Friday, telling a local newscaster that “Perry is desperate.”
“I’ve been endorsed by President Trump, and I’m excited and proud of that,” he said. “Perry Johnson spent $30 million primarying the president … now spending $25 million against me for his vanity campaign. That’s over $60 million for a career candidate who’s never won anything.”
James’ comments responded to Johnson’s demand that he apologize for a statement he made during a gubernatorial debate last Thursday. During the debate, Johnson criticized James for accepting donations with ties to data center developers. Both James and Johnson back a moratorium on data centers.
“Perry, I know when you were born, Black people could still be bought and sold in this country, but no one owns me,” James responded.
The remark outraged Johnson. He demanded James apologize, telling reporters Friday his opponent was “using the race card” to distract from policy.
“It’s a shameful attempt to really distract from the favor-based relationship he has with special interest groups,” Johnson said.
Johnson and James have had an intensely combative relationship since launching their campaigns to flip the governor’s seat red. In April, Johnson filed a lawsuit challenging James’ campaign logo that read “John James Governor,” arguing that it was misleading to voters. The move forced James’ campaign to rebrand materials to read “John James Michigan,” as the case continues to play out in court.
Johnson has criticized James for comments he made in 2020 to the New York Times on race. At the time, James was responding to the phrase “all lives matter,” which countered the Black Lives Matter movement. James said it was similar to saying “everybody’s parents die,” in response to the death of his father.
“A response of ‘all lives matter’ would be truthful,” he told the outlet at the time, “but it would also be hurtful and cruel in the moment.”
Johnson has also claimed in an ad campaign that James is “The DEI Candidate.” Johnson says he is “colorblind” and has expressed concern that “woke” Diversity, Equity and Inclusion awards were given to James’s family company, Group International. The company in 2023 was chosen for a National Black Supplier Development Program created to support black-owned businesses following Floyd’s death, according to the Detroit Regional Chamber.
James’ other rival in the race, former Attorney General Mike Cox, has also leveled attacks on his opponent, calling him a “nepo-baby” since he helped lead the company his dad founded. During the Thursday night debate, Cox suggested that since James is the “son of a CEO,” he is out of touch with those who have lost manufacturing jobs in the state. “I know how to get it done because I’m a son of the working class; I’m not the son of the CEO class,” Cox said.
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James clapped back.
“Mike Cox, I’m the son of a CEO who was a truck driver,” he said. “His father was a mason. His father was a sharecropper, and his father was a slave. How dare you shame the steps it takes to come up from Mississippi and build a life of prosperity for a family like mine.”
