The largest county Republican Party in Michigan and the Republican frontrunner for governor are at odds over a debate scheduled for later this month.
This week, the campaign for Congressman John James (R-MI 10) asked the Oakland County GOP to take his face off a flyer promoting an April 30 debate in Auburn Hills. That prompted the county party to accuse James of waffling on whether he was planning to attend, something the James campaign denies.
Brian Szmytke is a senior advisor with the Oakland County Republican Party. He said James should show up to talk to party faithful, especially since part of his congressional district includes part of Oakland County.
“It's honestly a slap in the face to the volunteers that got him elected, because our people put in a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and their money to get him elected. Now he's abandoning that seat, and he's not even showing up to a debate to explain why,” Szmytke said in an interview Thursday.
He said the county party picked the April 30 date, after Michigan’s candidate filing deadline, as part of an effort to meet the James campaign’s concerns.
James, who has consistently led primary polls, has largely avoided sharing the stage with his opponents so far.
When asked for a comment on the Oakland County debate, campaign spokesperson Hannah Osantowske pointed to a statement posted on social media. In it, she brings up examples of some high-profile candidates in 2022 failing to make the ballot.
“We will have a serious debate with serious contenders when the field is set,” Osantowske wrote. “We’ve seen how early, unstructured debates play out. In 2025, a debate stage helped elevate a candidate who later left the GOP. In 2022, after premature debates, multiple participants were removed from the ballot due to the fraudulent signatures they turned in.”
She said James will continue doing his community campaign stops in the meantime.
Candidate listings for the August primary election don’t become final until early June.
Kristin Combs, who co-founded Bright Spark Strategies, a conservative firm, and has previously worked with the state Republican Party, said James could still have plenty of time to engage voters from the debate stage.
“I just don’t think that the regular voter is that tuned in right now. I think that the delegate class and those that are active in party politics are paying attention but I’m not sure that the general public is that engaged at this point,” Combs said.
In the meantime, she said not engaging yet lets James avoid taking shots from people he may or may not be running against down the stretch.
Other candidates in the race include businessman Perry Johnson, former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, former House Speaker Tom Leonard, and pastor Ralph Rebandt.
Johnson, who has largely self-funded his campaign, has already spent much of his effort attacking James and trying to close the gap in the weeks since he entered the race. Others have also piled on James’ absence during past Republican debates.
They may get their chance to challenge him on the stage in a couple months. Michigan College Republicans recently pushed a debate that had been scheduled for Friday back until June. Whether James appears remains to be seen.
