Fox News Digital reported that the two largest teacher unions in the country donated at least $2.25million to the campaigns supporting Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s reelection.
The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association donated to “Put Michigan First”, a federal 527 organization supporting Whitmer. This group is affiliated with the Democratic Governors Association. It is a political organization that supports Democratic governors throughout the country.
The advocacy fund of the National Education Association gave Put Michigan First $1,000,000 in July.
AFT Solidarity, an AFT-affiliated group, donated $1.25 Million to the proWhitmer group in October and April.
Only donations to Put Michigan First were included in the $2.25 million donated by the NEA/AFT to Whitmer’s reelection. Teachers’ unions could have provided additional donations to support Whitmer’s election.
Put Michigan First also received $10.7million from the Democratic Governors Association and $2 million from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. $100,000 was also provided by the Sixteen Thirty Fund which is a progressive non-profit organization.
Taylor Budowich, head of MAGA Inc.’s political action committee, stated to the news outlet that “There is no organization that has done more for the future of children than NEA and no larger rubber stamp for their anti child agenda than Gretchen Whitmer.”
Budowich stated that “their flashy advertisements won’t give kids years of their lives or education back, it will not make Michigan families forget their draconian locks and closures, it won’t stop voters voting for Tudor Dixon on November 8.”
Tudor Dixon, the Republican candidate for Michigan, charged Whitmer with taking orders from her union bosses to close schools to protest COVID. Dixon claimed that Whitmer kept schools closed too long because of her “disastrous lockdown policy” that created an “education crisis.”
Whitmer ordered schools to be closed from March 16th through April 5th 2020. On November 15, 2020, Whitmer ordered schools to close down from March 16 through April 5, 2020. Whitmer encouraged schools to continue teaching remotely for two more weeks in April 2021.
Some schools in Michigan continued to offer remote learning throughout the 2020-2021 school years. Remote learning was used by schools in Flint and Ann Arbor for the start of the 2022 schoolyear.
Fox News Digital reported that Whitmer’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comments.
