Former Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon wants folks to understand how Biden-Harris EV mandates will hurt workers in Michigan and other states that rely on the auto industry.

Dixon joined Fox and Friends on Wednesday in the wake of Tuesday’s vice presidential debate to discuss how EV policies from the Biden-Harris administration are impacting Michigan, and what former President Donald Trump plans to do about it.

The segment kicked off with a clip of Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, explaining how team Trump’s plans for energy and the auto industry stand in stark contrast to the current administration.

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“You want to reshore as much American manufacturing as possible, and you want to produce as much energy as possible in the United States of America, because we’re the cleanest economy in the entire world,” Vance said at Tuesday’s debate.

“What have Kamala Harris’ policies actually led to? More energy production in China, more manufacturing overseas, more doing business in some of the dirtiest parts of the entire world.”

Fox’s Lawrence Jones posed the question to Dixon at a café in Muskegon: “Let’s talk about Kamala Harris … if she’s elected president, how does that hurt Michigan when it comes to … manufacturing?”

“Well, these mandates for EVs are really what’s going to hurt Michigan, because they continuously push auto manufacturing out of the state,” Dixon said. “The auto manufacturers are looking for places to assemble vehicles, and they decide to leave Michigan because the EV mandates are causing whole new plants to be built.

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“That’s going to hurt our workers, we’re going to lose jobs. We already see it happening. Every few months we hear that the Big Three are laying off more and more people, and it’s hurting our workers, but it’s also bringing in these electric vehicle battery plants,” Dixon said.

“These are coming in from China, they’re not American factories,” she continued, “and they’re going right on our watershed.”

“We have local residents … who are very concerned about the environmental impacts of a Kamala Harris presidency,” Dixon said.

Jones: “Why is Donald Trump different?”

“He’s been talking about making sure our manufacturing doesn’t go to Mexico,” Dixon said, relaying an experience during her tenure as an executive at a Muskegon-based Michigan Steel Inc.

“I know this personally very well, because really, ultimately, that’s why our factory closed right here in Muskegon, because our John Deere parts started to go to Mexico,” she said. “And then they said we’re going to take the suppliers and bring them down to Mexico too. If you can’t come, see you later.

“I think that’s what people in Michigan are worried about,” Dixon continued. “If our automotive industry goes to Mexico, our suppliers will go too. That’s our entire business here in the state. We all support the auto industry. It’s so important to make sure that’s going to stay here, and Donald Trump has said he’s going to support automotive in Michigan.”

The conversation comes as Trump and Harris are virtually tied in Michigan, where recent polls have shown leads for both candidates within the margin of error.

While leadership at the United Auto Workers union has endorsed Harris, Trump said during a recent stop at his Roseville campaign office that “I just saw a poll and we have 88% of the autoworkers.”

Michigan is projected to lose more than 37,000 auto manufacturing jobs as a result of regulations from the Biden-Harris administration that will require two-thirds of new vehicles to be electric by 2032.

The expected losses, far more than any other state, are outlined in a report from the America First Policy Institute that focuses in on the consequences of new emissions standards American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers argue are “going to feel and function like a ban” on gas-powered vehicles.

“In 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized regulations restricting carbon dioxide emissions from newly built cars. It is physically impossible for conventional gasoline-powered vehicles to meet the new standards. Consequentially, the rule effectively forces automakers to shift production to electric vehicles, which do not directly use fossil fuels or emit carbon dioxide (although the power plants from which electric vehicles draw electricity typically do),” according to the AFPI report.

“The Biden-Harris Administration estimates that, under the rule, conventional gas-powered vehicles could make up no more than one-third of newly built vehicles by 2032.”

The report notes Harris previously sponsored a Zero Emissions Vehicles Act as a senator that would have required 100% of new car sales to be emissions free by 2040.

Currently, the U.S. auto industry employs about 814,076, including 169,699 in Michigan alone.

“If EVs rise to 67% of U.S. vehicle sales the model estimates that almost 123,000 net auto-manufacturing jobs will be lost,” according to the report. “If the government completely bans the sale of conventional gas-powered cars and hybrid vehicles – as policymakers like Vice President Harris have previously proposed – the model estimates 191,000 auto manufacturing jobs would be lost.”

“Michigan is projected to experience the worst job losses, with about 37,000 jobs lost,” AFPI reports, though thousands more will be lost in Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, Illinois, and Kentucky.

While Harris has attempted to walk back her support for a 100% EV mandate, Trump has promised to “end the electric vehicle mandate on day one,” thereby “saving the U.S. auto industry from complete obliteration.”

Trump insists EVs should remain available for folks who want them, but has promised to preserve gas-powered vehicles as an option for those who don’t.

Oakland University political scientist Dave Dulio told The Detroit News a July survey commissioned by the news site and WDIV shows “people in Michigan are more aligned at this point with Donald Trump than they are the Biden-Harris administration on” EVs.

The telephone survey of 600 likely general election voters conducted July 22-24 found 71% have no plans to buy an EV, while 24% would consider one for their next vehicle purchase, and 5% are unsure. The same survey found 56% of Michigan voters oppose the government using tax dollars to force a transition to EVs, compared to 35% who support.

Other polling shows 63% of Michiganders oppose a gas car ban, such as the Biden-Harris EPA standards.