As a new poll showed her in a highly competitive contest for governor of Michigan, Tudor Dixon named a running mate late Friday that pleased all factions of the Republican Party.
"She checks all the boxes with Shane Hernandez," Ingham County (Lansing) GOP Chairman Tom Klunzinger shortly after Dixon tapped the former state legislator and architect as the first Hispanic lieutenant governor nominee in Water Wonderland history.
Dixon's selection of Hernandez came days after an AARP Michigan poll showed her trailing Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer by a slim 51 to 46 percent.
The Republican state convention next weekend will have to formally nominate Hernandez as Dixon's running mate, but his nomination is not likely engender much opposition. Dixon, a businesswoman and conservative TV commentator, handily topped the five-candidate GOP primary for governor.
Sources close to Dixon told Newsmax she was likely to pick a former legislator, given her lack of experience at the state capitol in Lansing. Hernandez served two terms in the state House of Representatives and narrowly lost a primary for Congress to fellow conservative Lisa McClain in the 10th District (Macomb County).
Hernandez and McClain agreed on most issues — pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and anti-tax. But she gained the upper hand by pointing out Hernandez had said Donald Trump was not his first or second choice for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Hernandez countered that he backed Trump in the general election and showed pictures of him campaigning aside vice presidential nominee Mike Pence.
"I salute Tudor Dixon for an inspired choice," Bill Ballenger, editor of the much-read, on-line Ballenger Report on Michigan politics, told us.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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