Images of President Donald Trump were prominent on the campaign pages of Republican gubernatorial candidate John James before the Aug. 4 primary election, but afterward, some of them have gone missing.

On Aug. 3, for example, the top image on the home page of James’ campaign website was of James standing next to Trump with the words “TRUMP ENDORSED” under the two men and a picture of a Truth Social post by Trump in support of James, according to the Internet Archive’s captures of the site.

Now, amid the general election and criticism by Democrats of his ties to the president, that image was no longer on the campaign home page as of Oct. 2. Likewise, James’ campaign cover Facebook photo used to be an image of Trump and James. Now, it’s an image of James and his family.

In addition, in January, the James campaign released an ad called “Impeached” about James’ support for Trump. “The ad underscores that John James is the only candidate for governor who stood with President Trump every time,” a January statement from the James campaign said.

The ad was on the campaign’s website home page before the primary, according to the Internet Archive. It’s not currently. And the link to the ad on YouTube now says “video unavailable.”

A James campaign spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request about why the campaign had changed the design of the campaign website after the primary.

In that primary race, James won 50% of the vote to get the GOP nomination, defeating businessman Perry Johnson, who got 35%.

Asked about the website changes, Michigan political consultant Adrian Hemond, a Democrat and CEO of the firm Grassroots Midwest, referenced the president’s struggling poll numbers.

“It turns out that the president is pretty unpopular with everybody except for his most committed supporters,” Hemond said. “That number of most committed supporters is sort of shrinking by the day.”

A recent statewide poll of 600 likely Michigan voters from The Detroit News and WDIV-TV (Channel 4) found that 61% of participants disapproved of the job Trump has been doing as president. The survey was conducted by phone from Aug. 31 through Sept. 3 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

For his part, during the fall campaign, James has touted his ability to work with but disagree with Trump.

“I can agree with the president without worshiping him,” James said during a Sept. 16 event. “I can disagree with the president without attacking him. And I will always put Michigan first.”

However, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, said on The Detroit News Political Insider podcast on Oct. 2 that she thought James had made a tactical error by tying himself so closely to the president in the primary.

The midterm election is always a referendum on the party in power, McMorrow said.

“For a state like Michigan, where Trump barely squeaked out a win in 2024, didn’t get above 50% of the vote, it would seem to me like a smart strategy if you are a Republican … is to show that you’re a little bit more independent-minded and that you are going to support Michiganders and not work for the president,” McMorrow said.

Democrats move to target Bergman

The U.S. House Democrats’ campaign arm on Oct. 2 added five-term Republican U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman to its target list ― a solidly GOP district that hasn’t been represented by a Democrat since 2011 when Bart Stupak retired.

Michigan’s expansive 1st District covers the Upper Peninsula and part of the northern Lower Peninsula. It was among eight red districts that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added to its offensive list Friday amid a poor environment for Republicans in the fall midterms.

Bergman of Watersmeet represents wide swaths of Michigan’s Trump country. The retired Marine lieutenant general won his seat in Congress the same year as Trump in 2016 and won reelection in 2024 by 21 percentage points to defeat Democrat Callie Barr, a veterans advocate from Traverse City. He’s facing Barr again in November.

“Jack Bergman has spent nearly ten years in office doing nothing but rubber-stamping his party’s corrupt, cost-hiking agenda,” DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene of Washington state said in a statement. “Michigan families are tired of Bergman’s mediocrity and billionaire-first agenda, and that’s why they’ll fire him next month.”

At the moment, the DCCC isn’t committing any outside money to help Barr, though the committee’s targeting the district could spur other donors to help her out.

“Democrats may be putting this district on the list to try and scare Republicans into spending money here, which would mean that those dollars can’t be spent elsewhere. We’ll see if they take the bait,” said Dave Dulio, a political scientist at Oakland University.

Bergman spokesman James Hogge said Democrats’ fake “blue tsunami narrative is crumbling in real time,” and the DCCC responded by “adding eight deep-red seats to its so-called ‘target list’ in a desperate attempt to get the media to sell their narrative yet again.

“The voters of Michigan’s First District already rejected Callie Barr by more than 100,000 votes last election. Yelling louder about how much she hates General Bergman, hiring Bernie Sanders’ socialist campaign manager, and capitulating to the radical left won’t change those results,” Hogge said.

“Northern Michigan and the U.P. rejected Callie’s radical agenda once, and voters will overwhelmingly reject it again in November,” Hogge added.

Whitmer names DTE executive to commission

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has appointed Trevor Lauer, the vice chairman of one of Michigan’s dominant electric utilities, DTE Energy, to the Natural Resources Commission.

The seven-member panel has the power to regulate the taking of game and sportfish and oversees the Department of Natural Resources.

Detroit-based DTE Energy is an influential force in Michigan politics and has faced criticism in recent years for rising electricity bills, outages and its involvement in spending to sway elections.

A spokeswoman for Whitmer didn’t respond to a question from The Detroit News about why Lauer was chosen for the commission. A press release from the Governor’s Office said he is a member of the Six Rivers Land Conservancy and Hunters Creek Club and an avid sportsman.

The news of the appointment drew bipartisan criticism. State Rep. Matt Maddock, R-Milford, said Whitmer had appointed a wealthy donor as “the door slaps her” on the way out of office. Her final term as governor concludes at the end of the year. Former state Rep. Abraham Aiyash, D-Hamtramck, responded to Lauer’s selection with simply “lol.”

Ryan Lowry, spokesman for DTE, said Lauer is the son of a Pennsylvania Fish Commission waterways patrolman and has spent a lifetime dedicated to conservation.

“Since moving to Michigan more than 20 years ago, he has remained an avid outdoorsman and advocate for public access to natural spaces,” Lowry added. “Professionally, he has also been involved with conservation initiatives ranging from wildlife habitat and wetland restoration projects to pollinator programs and urban tree-canopy efforts.”

Lauer of Bloomfield Hills will serve as an independent on the commission. He replaces John Walters of Gaylord, a former Whitmer appointee.

The Democratic-controlled Michigan Senate could block Lauer’s appointment, but Democratic lawmakers have generally declined to even call Whitmer’s picks for state government positions in for questioning.

Carter to resistant Democrats: ‘Hold your nose, let’s go to the polls’

Detroit Democratic state Rep. Tyrone Carter said Democrats need to rally around their general election candidates, even if some weren’t a voter’s preferred option in the primary.

Carter, speaking on WKAR-TV’s Off The Record Oct. 2, said Democrats have been suffering the consequences of division in the 2024 election and, going forward, party members must remember the general election is a “team sport.”

“We’ve got to keep getting them to understand the consequences and unintended consequences that we’ve already suffered through; that’s what happens when we don’t support one another,” Carter said. “… So, hey, hold your nose, let’s go to the polls and let’s make this happen.”

When asked earlier in the program about Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s favorability in Detroit, Carter said the former Wayne County health official was making inroads after a primary where certain parts of the city were “overlooked.”

“I represent Detroit, southwest Detroit, Ecorse and River Rouge; there was zero presence from his campaign,” Carter said of the run-up to the primary. “Now they’ve ramped it up.”

Mallory McMorrow for Michigan Democratic Party chair?

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, is leaving office at year’s end after dropping out of the U.S. Senate on July 5.

But she never really left the campaign trail, turning her energy to helping elect 16 Democrats running for the state House and Senate this fall.

Her stature among Democrats has some wondering if she’ll run for chair of the Michigan Democratic Party early next year if the current chairman, Curtis Hertel Jr., chooses not to seek another two-year term.

“I’m not interested. Ruling it out,” McMorrow said on the Political Insider podcast.

McMorrow did signal a willingness to serve in the administration of Jocelyn Benson, should the secretary of state win the governor’s race on Nov. 3.

Watch the full podcast interview here:

Tweet of the Week

The Insider report’s “Tweet of the Week,” recognizing a social media post that was worthy of attention or, possibly, just a laugh, from the previous week goes to the Libertarian Party of Michigan.

The Libertarian Party disavowed its own nominee for governor, Anthony Hudson of Grand Blanc Township, in a post on X on Sept. 28.

The public disavowal came after a decision from the party’s executive committee and after Hudson said in one video, “F— the Libertarian Party” and used a gay slur in another video.

Hudson responded to the disavowal in a series of posts throughout week, including one that used artificial intelligence-generated images of executive committee members.

“They tried to censure me, but that’s not really working out for them!” Hudson wrote on X.

cmauger@detroitnews.com

mburke@detroitnews.com

clivengood@detroitnews.com

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: James campaign scrubs some online elements of Trump support | Insider

Reporting by Craig Mauger, Melissa Nann Burke, Beth LeBlanc and Chad Livengood, The Detroit News / The Detroit News

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