Michigan voters are in the crosshairs of hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising on broadcast television stations, cable TV, streaming services, websites and old fashioned glossy flyers that arrive in the mail every day for weeks on end, each making innumerable claims about candidates on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Many are laced with an element of truth but often lack context or make leaps to draw conclusions about the effect of a politician's vote or position that is not always grounded in fact.
Detroit News reporters dug into some misleading claims in recent political ads, from electric vehicles to abortion to energy prices to explain what the allegations are based on and where things are getting distorted.
Here's what we found:
Did Foreign EV Companies Lay Off 'Thousands' in Michigan?
The claim: A Republican-funded ad on the air in Michigansays U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, “helped funnel millions in taxpayer subsidies to foreign EV companies that then laid off thousands of Michigan workers, killing jobs.”An ad by the same group, the Senate Leadership Fund, last month said Slotkin voted to let states ban gas-powered vehicles and repeats the similar claim about taxpayer-backed subsidies from the Inflation Reduction Act (which Slotkin supported) going to a foreign battery maker that laid off Michigan workers.
“Elissa Slotkin is good for foreign EV companies, but she's bad for Michigan's workers,” the narrator says.
Slotkin is facing Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake Township in Michigan's tossup Senate race.
SLF told The Detroit News that the ad is referring in part to LG Energy Solution, a South Korean battery manufacturer, that let go 170 employees in Michigan in November 2023, according to news reports. The company has estimated it would get millions of dollars in IRA tax credits.
The other layoffs that SLF pointed to were by Stellantis NV, which announced in August that it planned to lay off up to 2,450 workers at its Warren Truck Assembly Plant. Also, Stellantis in July was awarded two grants funded by the Inflation Reduction Act worth nearly $585 million to retool to make EVs or EV parts at plants in Illinois and Indiana.
The facts: Many in the U.S. auto sector probably don't think of Stellantis as a "foreign EV company," in part because it primarily makes gas-powered cars and is still considered to be one of the Detroit Three; however, it is registered in the Netherlands since it was formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles ( FCA ) and the French PSA Group in 2021.
SLF specifically referenced an editorial in the Wall Street Journalthat month that blamed the Warren layoffs by Stellantis on the “green-energy transition” as the company “ramps up electric-vehicle production,” claiming the automaker was getting rid of workers “as it rolls out a new electric model.”
But Stellantis spokesperson Jodi Tinson told The Detroit News the layoffs in Warren were not related to the shift toward EVs.
Stellantis said the layoffs are because the company ended production of the gas-powered Ram 1500 Classic pickup at the Warren plant Oct. 4 due to the introduction of the new 2025 Ram 1500 Tradesman, which is also gas-powered.
The company has laid off about 1,100 workers from its Warren Truck Assembly Plant this month. That is half the positions that the automakeroriginally warned could be eliminated.
"They're still getting hundreds of millions in tax credits from the IRA (which Slotkin voted for) and laying off workers. That's the point," SLF spokeswoman Torunn Sinclair said. "They took $584 million in taxpayer credits and then announced plans to lay off 2,500 workers. That's not good for Michigan."
Retiring the Ram 1500 Classic was anticipated, with the 2023 United Auto Workers union contract saying the Ram 1500 Classic would only continue through 2024. The older model had been kept in production for a few extra years after the new 1500 came out for model year 2019 as an offering for value-focused buyers.
According to UAW officials, the problem for Warren Truck’s future employment levels has more to do with some production of the newer-generation Ram 1500 likely moving to Mexico, rather than to Warren. But Warren Truck isn't closing anytime soon: It still builds the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer large luxury SUVs, and Stellantis said in September it is investing $97.6 million in the plant to produce future electrified versions of the SUVs.
The SLF ad also takes aim at Slotkin's "no" vote last year on a bill that would block states, including California, from banning gas-powered vehicles. Slotkin has defended that vote, saying former President Donald Trump is making electric vehicles "his new ‘woke’ culture war."
In this month’s Senate debate, Slotkin said she doesn't care what kind of car voters drive but declared the U.S. should not cede the EV market to China, as the former president has suggested.
“If the fundamental question is 'Who do we want to make that next generation of vehicles?' you better believe I want that to be Michigan, not China,” Slotkin said.
Does James Want to Ban Abortion?
The claim: Recent attack ads running against first-term U.S. Rep. John James, R- Shelby Township, claim that he "supports a bill that would ban abortion even in cases of rape or incest.”The citation that flashes on the screen in the ad by House Majority PAC is to a news article from August 2022― prior to when James was elected to the U.S. House in November 2022.
The subject of that 2022 article focused on a congressional race in Iowa, and GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson’s support for the Life at Conception Act, which would provide legal protections “at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization."
Critics say the legislation as written would ban abortions nationally at all stages by recognizing all stages of human development as legal persons. It allows for no exceptions in the cases of rape, incest or protections for in vitro fertilization.
The facts: James is not a co-sponsor of the Life at Conception Act.
Four other Michigan House members are co-sponsors this term: GOP Reps. Bill Huizenga of Holland, Lisa McClain of Bruce Township, Jack Bergman of Watersmeet and John Moolenaar of Caledonia.
James previously opposed abortion in cases of rape or incest when he ran for Senate and in his last race for U.S. House. He shifted his stance on abortion since Michigan voters approved a 2022 ballot question to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
James said on WDIV's Flashpoint in July 2023 that he would not support a national policy on abortion, noting the U.S. Supreme Court had returned the issue to the states to regulate when it overturned Roe v. Wade.
"The people of Michigan have spoken, and... I said from the very, very beginning that we need to have compassion for women, and we need to listen to women, and women have made their voice heard loud and clear," said James, referencing Proposal 3.
"We need to look out for exceptions like rape, incest, life for the mother. And we need to respect the fact that the decision is back to the states," he added.
Asked about evidence to support the ad, a spokesman for the House Majority PAC, which is endorsed by House Democratic leadership, pointed to James’ membership in the Republican Study Committee, a bloc of House Republicans.
The House Majority PAC noted that the Republican Study Committee’s 2025 budget proposal endorsed the Life At Conception Act, “which would provide 14th Amendment protections at all stages of life.”
James’ being a member of the RSC, however, is not the same as him supporting the controversial bill.
Did McDonald Rivet Raise Energy Bills?
The claim: State Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet, D- Bay City, voted to raise Michigan electric bills “sky high,” “costing us over $2,700 a year for electricity,” according to an ad by the Congressional Leadership Fundstarring several local Republican women.“But gave herself a pay raise,” one of them tells the camera.
“You should see my electric bills!” says another.
The facts: McDonald Rivet, who is running for U.S. House against Republican Paul Junge, did receive a pay raise in 2021 when serving on the Bay City Commission. The ad omits that her raise was for $500 a year (7 percent), and commissioners’ pay went from $7,000 to $7,500, according to MLive, which is less than $42 a month.
The electricity bills claim relates to McDonald Rivet’s votes in the state Senate a year ago for a package of bills that imposes a new 100 percent clean energy standard for utilities to hit by 2040 and expands the state’s renewable energy standard to 60 percent by 2035.
The CLF ad gets its electricity cost figure from an analysis by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a Midland-based research center that estimated the package of bills would cost Michiganians $386 billion by 2050 or an average annual additional cost of $2,746 per customer.
But that analysis was performed early in 2023 before lawmakers significantly revised the legislative package to extend the deadline for meeting the new standards and expanded the definition of a "renewable energy resource.” The Mackinac Center’s Jason Hayes, director of energy and environmental policy, told The Detroit News that the figure is no longer applicable, though he still expects the cost would be substantial.
“The expense is still going to be huge, and I’d be guesstimating but closer to $386 billion than $206 billion,” Hayes said, whose analysis also warned of blackouts. “There’s no way you can build this all out without expanding rates.”
A recent analysis by the firm 5 Lakes Energy estimated that Michigan families’ energy bills would decline an average $297 a year by 2030 and by $713 a year by 2040 as a result of the combined state changes and new federal climate policies adopted under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Electricity rates in Michigan are not set by state lawmakers like McDonald Rivet but by utilities. So far, only one utility, DTE Energy, has filed an updated plan with the Michigan Public Service Commission to show how it will comply with the renewable energy standard in the 2023 law and what that will cost for this one aspect of the new requirements.
“No expenditures have been made in response to the mandate yet. That’s all future,” said Douglas Jester, managing partner at the Lansing -based clean energy consulting group 5 Lakes Energy who was involved with the development of the bills.
“As an accounting matter, what’s driving the rate increases now is investments in the distribution systems to address reliability problems," Jester said.
Jester noted that DTE’s filing shows that it’s expecting that the cumulative cost of compliance is negative, meaning that over the full period through 2045 there’s a savings due to using renewables rather than natural gas.
The utility currently holds a balance of funds due to over-collecting from customers, and Jester pointed out that DTE is forecasting it will never be in the position of charging customers for the incremental cost of compliance because of those accumulated balances will cover the cost in years when the incremental cost is positive.
Does Frisbie Favor Criminalizing Abortion?
The claim: An ad targeting Calhoun County Commissioner Steve Frisbie, a Republican from Battle Creek running for the state House, says he "supports criminalizing abortion even after rape or incest" and that, under Frisbie's plans, "women could be arrested and imprisoned."Frisbie is challenging Democratic state Rep. Jim Haadsma of Battle Creek, who is seeking another term in Lansing.
The only citation that airs with the ad by the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee points to Frisbie's endorsement by the anti-abortion group Michigan Right to Life.
Asked about that, committee spokesman Adam Bingman said Michigan Right to Life "makes clear that their criteria for endorsement requires candidates to oppose the right to an abortion in all cases except to protect the life of the mother."
The criteria is "no different" than what existed under the 1931 law, which criminalized abortion and denied exceptions, Bingman said.
The facts: Michiganians two years ago voted to adopt a constitutional amendment broadly protecting access to abortion.
Outlawing abortion now would require a two-thirds supermajority vote in each legislative chamber to place it on the ballot again, or another voter-led ballot initiative that's placed before Michigan voters for approval. Proposal 3 passed with 57 percent of the vote in November 2022.
Frisbie said Monday he is “unapologetically pro-life,” but noted the passage of Prop 3 largely removed decision-making from the hands of state lawmakers on abortion.
“Now that right is enshrined in the constitution, and there’s nothing that Steve Frisbie or any other legislator or any other governor can do in the state of Michigan to remove those rights,” he said. “It would take another vote of the Michigan people."
“To me, all this talk about abortion is nothing more than a distraction because they don’t want to defend their record,” Frisbie added.
Amber Roseboom, president of Michigan RTL, said no one has ever been jailed for abortion in Michigan.
"No one supports that, period," Rosebloom said. "There's no advocacy groups that I'm aware of that supports jailing women for abortion."
Is There an EV Mandate?
The claim: “Kamala Harris supports EV mandates, killing Michigan jobs. She wants to end all gas-powered cars. Crazy but true,” says a new30-second spot by the Republican Donald Trump presidential campaign that began airing Oct. 17.The mandate label has become a common Republican attack across multiple federal races in Michigan.
The facts: The Biden administration has devoted considerable time and resources to EVs. It has employed a combination of incentives and punitive regulations that push the auto industry toward electrification — a global shift most industry experts view as inevitable.
None of the policies "outlaw" or ban the sale of new, gas-powered cars and trucks.
In that sense, there is not a federal "EV mandate"; however, Biden did setenvironmental standards that will likely be impossible to meet without a significant increase in EV sales. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, has not opposed those standards but said in a recent ad that it's up to voters to decide what kind of car they drive.
There arepending state-level policies that will explicitly require 100 percent EV sales for new cars by 2035. But the Biden administration has not given the necessary permission for those to take effect.
It is also true that Harris, as a U.S. senator for California,previously co-sponsored a bill requiring automakers to "sell only zero-emission vehicles" by 2040. The bill was introduced but never voted on.
The new Trump ad continues: “Harris’ push requiring electric only is failing big and Michigan auto workers are paying the price. Massive layoffs already started. She could tank Michigan's whole economy.”
There have been auto layoffs in Michigan since the start of the Biden administration that can be directly attributed to EVs. Prasad Venkatesh, the head of research at the Ann Arbor -based Center for Automotive Research, said the layoffs across the industry have been consistent with the types of labor market changes he expected in a transition to EVs.
Jobs related to internal combustion engines, he told The News, are already starting to decline. But the “good news” is that the losses are tempered by new jobs associated with hybrid gas-electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fully electric vehicles.
General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. each had instances of 900 or more EV-related manufacturing workers being laid off in the past year. In both cases, however, the affected employees were offered jobs at other nearby plants.
Stellantis NV laid off about 1,100 workers from its Warren Truck Assembly Plant this month. Company spokesperson Tinson said those layoffs were not related to its shift toward EVs.
Instead, Stellantis said the layoffs are because the company ended production of the gas-powered Ram Classic at the Warren plant Oct. 4 due to the introduction of the new 2025 Ram 1500 Tradesman, which is also gas-powered.
Trump’s campaign is correct that autos are a crucial contributor to Michigan’s economy. The industry employs about 392,000 people statewide and accounts for more than 7 percent of all jobs, per the industry's top lobbying group.
The former president pledged in the ad to “save Michigan jobs,” a promise he hasnot fully delivered on in the past, at least for the auto industry. The number of jobs in vehicle and parts manufacturing in Michigan declined during Trump's first term — including before the COVID-19 pandemic hit — according tofederal data.
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