Tim Skubick

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again.In modern day Michigan history in the races for governor, it has happened only two times.

Perry Johnson ran for governor but never got on the ballot. He’ll try, try, try again this year.

Mike Cox ran for governor in 2010. He did get on the ballot, but lost the nomination to Rick Snyder. He is at it again.

Mr. Cox has an interesting history and holds the record for winning the state attorney general’s job by a mere 5,000 votes which made it one of the tightest contest ever. Next time he ran he won by 11% and established himself as a bona fide statewide candidate for the future.

His problem in 2010 was that he was not the only legit conservative guy on the ballot. All the candidates, minus one, in the five person contest appealed to right wingers and when it came time to vote, the conservatives divided their vote among the four and the Nerd won with only 35% of the vote.

Ditto for this 2026 race with conservatives John James, Tom Leonard and Aric Nesbitt playing to the conservatives along with Perry Johnson. The only difference is there is no middle of the road candidate who could squeak through ala Mr. Snyder.

Mr. Cox is running on a platform of reforming education which is nothing new when it comes to running for governor as every candidate in the last 50 years has said the same thing.

He also wants to wipe out the state income tax. Nothing new there either.

It’s real easy for any hopeful to play the tax cut card. The though part is once you do that, how do you make up the lost revenue if the tax goes away? Mr. Cox tells everyone he has a list of $13 billion dollars in state service cuts to fill in the gap but he won’t release it for everyone to judge. And by sitting on it, there will be those who might argue, he never had a list in the first place.

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, he explains that a good negotiator never plays all his cards at the opening of the game.

“I’ve got nine months to work on that first budget,” he explains. So, “I’m not going to tell you today,” what the list looks like. End of that story for now.

You can’t chew on this GOP race for governor without putting President Donald Trump on the menu.

And Mr. Cox laced up his dancing shoes during a recent exchange on the President’s belief that he won the 2020 election in Michigan even though lots of other folks think Mr. Biden won.

Where does Mr. Cox stand?

“I’m not going to answer that question because that’s really a sideshow,” he boldly hoofs it away from the loaded question.

If he says Mr. Trump is wrong, there goes any possible endorsement.

If he says Mr. Trump was right, there goes the independent vote in a general election if he gets the nomination.

“Why don’t you want to answer the question? Are you afraid?”

“No. I’m not afraid. What does this have to do with fixing education or fixing the economy,” he offers up a defense of his unwillingness to play the no win game.

One could argue that citizens might want to know the answer so they could factor it into their decision on whether to support him.

To which he notes, “about something that we’ve all moved on from?” And he adds, “the courts have ruled and we move on.”

During the interview he never said elections in Michigan were rigged but he believes one could be suspicious nonetheless.

“There is a reason to question the integrity of the elections. 100%. There were dramatic irregularities. 100%,” he argues.

And for good measure, he joins the chorus of other Republicans who believe the Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is partly to blame. Of course as she runs for governor, she steadfastly denies the allegation.

Mr. Cox says he is ready to take her on, but first things first.

“I’m the hardest working candidate in this race,” he reports as he jumps in the car to head up to Marquette for the annual dog sled race.

“Do you have a dog sled?, he was asked.

“No but I’m going to stop at Jay’s Sporting Goods to get a small one,” he laughs.