John James is betting Michigan still wants Trump | Opinion

I think the 2026 election in Michigan is a harbinger of things to come in 2028.

For Republicans, we know the Trump endorsement is powerful in a primary. Trump’s blessing is the reason John James won the Republican primary race for governor. What we are about to learn in a very purple state is how powerful the Trump endorsement is in a general election. Will it help John James recapture the governor’s office for the GOP? And can Trump help Mike Rogers win the US Senate seat as a Republican for the first time since 1994?

If not, what does that portend for JD Vance, Marco Rubio and all those other Republican presidential contenders who have cast their lot with Trump, and are now saddled with the war in Iran, higher tariffs, high inflation and rising prices for gas and groceries going into the 2028 election?

Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, which way should the party tilt going into the '28 presidential campaign? Toward a more full-throated, robust embrace of the progressive left embodied by Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who has won the U.S. Senate Democratic primary? El-Sayed has notched a huge victory, after being out-spent by more than 12-to-1, and deserves credit for his win. But the biggest prize, victory in the general election this November, is still a question mark. The answer will go a long way toward determining who the 2028 nominee will be for the Democrats.

More: The 3 biggest takeaways from Michigan's primaries for governor

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Lastly, if Republicans go full Trump-MAGA in the 2028 campaign, and Democrats do decide to embrace the progressive the left, then where do the moderate, middle-of-the-road voters go? Where do they find a home? Is there space for an independent, reform candidate on the national scene? Is there some national Mike Duggan-like figure who could threaten the two-party grip on politics in America? There are a lot of voters in the middle. Why aren't there more candidates appealing to them?

Contributing columnist Rusty Hills is a past chair of the Michigan Republican Party, and is a lecturer at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters, and we may publish it online and in print.