Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wants Michiganders to understand that two electric vehicle battery plants linked to the Chinese Communist Party are coming to the state because “Joe Biden got it done.”

“Facts are facts: @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris have delivered for the American people,” Whitmer posted to X on Sunday, along with a video of herself explaining how the Biden administration has “delivered results.”

Facts are facts: @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris have delivered for the American people. pic.twitter.com/YkjiNccHdp

— Gretchen Whitmer (@gretchenwhitmer) July 7, 2024

Among the alleged accomplishments, according to Whitmer, is a “manufacturing boom across America.”

“We’re seeing it in Michigan with companies building new factories and bringing back middle class jobs, back to places that too often have been left behind,” she said. “Joe Biden got it done.”

“In 2019, there were just two electric vehicle battery factories in America,” Whitmer said. “There are 30 being built or open today, now.”

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The new plants include two in Michigan that received billions in taxpayer subsidies, despite widespread opposition from locals and Republicans concerned about the companies’ ties to the Chinese Communist Party, their impact on the environment, and waning demand for EVs.

The deals were negotiated using nondisclosure agreements that prevent Whitmer or other Democrats involved from discussing the details, though news reports explain how they circumvented local opposition to impose the factories on local communities.

“In September, the Detroit Free Press broke the story that political groups tied to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer spent an estimated $100,000 in ‘dark money’ to run a public relations campaign against local Marshall-area residents who were being inconveniently vocal in their opposition” to $1.75 billion in taxpayer subsidies for a planned Ford-CATL battery plant, according to the Center for Economic Accountability.

The center, which dubbed the deal America’s Worst Economic Development Deal of the Year for 2023, suggested the effort to silence the opposition was worse than the promised “$700,000 per job price tag for below-average jobs.”

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“The Free Press made the connection between the governor’s political allies and the PR campaign because it used consultants, lawyers and even phone numbers tied to Gov. Whitmer’s 2022 re-election campaign and the state Democratic party,” the center reports. “Campaign activities included mailing out postcards that used photos of local opponents, as well as robocalls and other professional campaign tactics.”

Congressman John Moolenaar, chair of the U.S. House Select Committee on the CCP, has also highlighted CATL’s links to the Chinese Communist Party and slave labor in China, along with similar concerns with a Gotion EV battery component factory in Big Rapids.

Last month, Moolenaar documented several companies within the supply chains for Gotion and CATL that are linked to “Chinse Communist Party state-sponsored slave labor and the ongoing Uyghur genocide.”

In Big Rapids, Gotion’s $715 million incentive package inked with the Whitmer administration includes a 30-year tax break worth $540 million, as well as $175 million in grants.

That deal, which Whitmer describes as a “winning investment” for taxpayers, is opposed by more than 90% of Moolneaar’s constituents for a variety of reasons, from a required 700,000 gallons of water per day, to threats to the Muskegon River watershed, to security risks from the proximity to the cybersecurity center at Ferris State University and the National Guard base in Grayling.

“Gotion’s supply chains are deeply compromised by links to entities whose goods, wares, articles, or merchandise are mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in” the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, according to a June 5 letter Moolenaar sent to DHS Secretary Robert Silvers, requesting DHS blacklist both companies.

Fortunately, fierce public opposition in Big Rapids has slowed progress there, while Ford has significantly scaled back its plans with CATL in Marshall, shaving $1 billion off its planned $3.5 billion investment and reducing the site from 950 acres to 500, Bridge Michigan reports.

Ford also reduced projected jobs created from 2,500 to 1,700.

The decision to downsize was based in part on lagging demand for EVs, and the high cost to produce them.

During the first quarter of 2024, Ford sold 10,000 electric vehicles, losing $132,000 on each, according to the data.

Last month, McKinsey & Co. released a survey of 30,000 people “who regularly use mobility,” and found 46% of U.S. EV users would likely return to using internal combustion vehicles.

The figure highlights widespread dissatisfaction with EV limitations including a lack of public charging infrastructure, high costs of ownership, range anxiety, and overall stress of keeping an EV battery charged.