Republican EV attacks are flooding Michigan, putting Democrats on the defensive in a critical battleground
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- EV-related ads this election cycle are 75% negative and mostly in Michigan, an analysis found.
- Republicans claim EVs will cause massive job losses and only benefit China.
- EV supporters point to dozens of new EV and battery plants announced in Michigan in the last two years.
Republicans are flooding Michigan with attacks on electric vehicles, warning they will only benefit China and spur massive job losses in the swing state.
Former President Donald Trump during recent campaign events in Michigan said an "EV mandate" would cost hundreds of thousands of US auto jobs and the industry would be gone from the state within a few years because China would take all the business. Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican running for Senate, made similar warnings in a debate this week.
Political strategists told Business Insider that the anti-EV messaging was drowning out positive ones in Michigan, putting Democrats on the defensive in a critical battleground. The latest polls indicate Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are neck-and-neck in Michigan, with Trump gaining ground over the past few months. While EVs aren't a major issue for American voters writ large, they've been a hot-button issue in Michigan, given the state's long legacy of auto manufacturing and skepticism among union workers.
"Republicans are winning a few points on it," said Mike Murphy, a longtime GOP strategist who founded the EV Politics Project, a group that supports EVs and seeks to end the partisan divide.
Murphy said the attacks were frustrating because the Biden administration's investments in electric vehicles under the Inflation Reduction Act had helped spur dozens of new EV and battery manufacturing plants in Michigan and were already creating jobs.
"We've run some advertising trying to make the massive surge of new EV manufacturing at jobs in Michigan famous, because nobody knows about them," Murphy said. "The Biden administration has not done a good job of telling that story."
The vast majority of EV-related ads this election cycle have been negative — or 75% of the $15.5 million spent so far, an analysis commissioned by Murphy's group found. About 70% of the ads mentioned an "EV mandate" or "gas-car ban," and most of the spending was in Michigan.
There is no mandate or ban, however. The Biden administration is incentivizing a switch to EVs through tax breaks and stricter limits on tailpipe pollution. Environmental Protection Agency officials said in March that its vehicle emissions standards could be met if 56% of new car sales were electric by 2032, a huge jump from 7% today, and hybrids accounted for about 13% sales. Gas cars would also have to be more efficient.
Meanwhile, Trump and Rogers' claims of massive job losses due to the EV transition have been debunked by outlets including PolitiFact and The Washington Post.
The conservative think tank America First Policy Institute estimated that a complete ban on gas-powered vehicles could cost nearly 200,000 US auto jobs — and 37,000 in Michigan — because EVs require less labor. But that analysis didn't account for jobs created by new EV and battery manufacturing plants popping up across the country.
More than 30 new projects have been announced in Michigan since 2022, the business group E2, which advocates clean energy policy, found. These projects could support 32,500 construction jobs and 8,400 jobs at the plants.
The United Auto Workers has endorsed Harris. The union's president, Shawn Fain, earlier this month blasted Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, over their pledges to end federal EV investments. Fain said the change would cost hundreds of jobs in Michigan and thousands more across states where EV and battery manufacturing plants are taking off. That includes major battleground states like North Carolina and Georgia. But rank-and-file UAW members during a strike last year told POLITICO's E&E News that they were turned off by the EV transition, citing concerns about their jobs, the costs of EVs, and finding charging.
China's dominance of the EV supply chain is another political lightning rod. A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee said the Inflation Reduction Act had been a boon for China. They pointed to Chinese-owned firms, including JA Solar, LONGi, and Gotion, that are building projects in the US and have collected billions in tax breaks from the Inflation Reduction Act. China also continues to supply the vast majority of EV batteries and the minerals inside them, the spokesperson said.
Democrats are hitting back on Republicans' EV attacks, arguing that the US has to build its own domestic EV manufacturing base to compete with China. Otherwise, the US will cede its market share overseas.
"Everyone knows China is eating our lunch on these kinds of vehicles," Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who's running against Rogers for Senate, said during their debate this week. "Just go to Europe, they have 30% market share. Go to South America, 30% market share. America knows we haven't gotten it right when it comes to seeing the next generation of vehicles."