Everything is coming up John James in the Michigan GOP’s primary for governor. Shortly after the Washington Reporter published an op-ed about why Michigan Republicans should consolidate sooner rather than later around James’s candidacy, the state’s former attorney general, Mike Cox, announced that he is suspending his campaign and backing the Michigan congressman.
While Cox won’t ascend to his state’s top job in 2027, Cox’s internal polling obtained exclusively by the Reporter shows that he remains one of the most popular figures among the state’s GOP voters.
Polling from co/efficient, conducted days before Cox dropped out, showed that James was leading the field with a plurality of 36 percent, with businessman Perry Johnson in second with 23 percent, and Cox narrowly trailing Johnson with 21 percent.
After President Trump endorsed John James on June 23, both Cox and GOP rival Perry Johnson continued to fight for GOP nomination, but after more than $5 million of advertising aimed at John James since that endorsement, both his ballot share and image among GOP voters are relatively unchanged.
A race that was at one point very fluid is now solidified. Cox was tied in a statistical dead heat with James just one week before President Trump endorsed James. Cox credits President Trump with bolstering James, calling it “a testament to the enduring loyalty of Republican primary voters in Michigan to the President,” in his statement to exit the race.
Cox leaves the race with the best image rating of any of the top three Republicans; 48 percent of respondents viewed him favorably, compared with only eleven percent who viewed him negatively.
In contrast, James boasts 51 percent favorable ratings but 29 percent of Michigan GOP primary voters view him unfavorably. For months, James has taken on millions of dollars of negative ads from his fellow Republicans.
However, it is Johnson, who ran against Trump in 2024, who has the worst ratio of all. 41 percent of Republican voters view him favorably, compared with 25 percent who view him unfavorably, despite almost $30 million spent by Johnson on the race.
Cox also led the field when respondents were asked who their second choice for governor is. 29 percent picked Cox. That, combined with Cox’s field-leading favorables, position him to be a critical surrogate for James in November.
With Cox out of the race and little evidence that the millions spent by Perry Johnson is having any impact on James’ lead, James is expected to glide to victory on August 4th. President Trump also plans to visit Michigan on July 27, a week before the primary, and if he uses that opportunity to bolster James, it puts the chances of Johnson upsetting James either further out of reach.
Even though Cox is out of the governor’s race, he plans to aggressively campaign for downballot Republican candidates Doug Lloyd for Attorney General and Anthony Forlini for Secretary State.
On the Democratic side, the current Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, is expected to win her party’s nomination, but Cox will remain a thorn in her side for months, even though he is not going to be her opponent.
Cox recently filed a lawsuit against Benson, “alleging [that] her office has failed to produce public records related to her past involvement with the Southern Poverty Law Center despite a Freedom of Information Act request filed nearly three months ago,” as Click On Detroit reported.
