News · Press Release

ICYMI: DCCC Launches New Billboard Campaign Holding Tom Barrett Accountable for Opposing 5,000 MI Auto Jobs

In case you missed it, as Michigan manufacturing workers commute to work over the next two weeks they’ll be reminded that Tom Barrett tried to stand in the way of bipartisan measures that led to General Motors bringing 4,000 new manufacturing jobs to Michigan, retaining 1,000 jobs, and building a new EV battery plant in Michigan’s 7th congressional district.

Yesterday the DCCC announced a two-week billboard campaign calling Barrett out for trying to block thousands of new jobs and a $2.6 billion investment in the Greater Lansing area.

And even as the economic growth will be a boon for mid-Michigan, Barrett has doubled down on his opposition, even claiming to support infrastructure investments – an excuse that’s nothing more than hot air as Barrett has refused to say if he’d support the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

READ MORE BELOW: 

Detroit News: GM incentive vote becomes early flashpoint in key Michigan U.S. House race

  • Democrats are launching billboards Monday against state Sen. Tom Barrett, a GOP candidate in one of Michigan’s battleground U.S. House districts, criticizing him for opposing economic development incentives that helped lure a $7 billion investment from General Motors.

  • The billboards say Barrett of Charlotte voted against “5,000 Michigan auto jobs.” The advertisements could be a signal of the debate to come in the state’s new 7th House District, located in the Lansing area, where Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, is seeking reelection.

  • Barrett was a top Republican recruit and his race against Slotkin is widely expected to be close.

  • “Generations of Michiganders know what a new auto manufacturing facility means for their communities,” said Elena Kuhn, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). “When Tom Barrett had the chance to work with Republicans and Democrats to bring thousands of new manufacturing jobs and a new EV battery plant to mid-Michigan, he said no and turned his back on Michigan’s working families.”

  • The GOP lawmaker, who announced his U.S. House campaign in November, has argued the state should be working to improve its overall business climate by investing in infrastructure and lowering energy costs, which he says would benefit all Michigan residents.
    […]

  • The state agreed to provide $666 million in incentives through the new Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) Fund for the project. Officials also signed off on a tax exemption valued at $158 million.

  • As part of the plans, GM and battery partner LG Energy Solution will make a $2.5 billion investment near GM’s Delta Township plant for a battery cell manufacturing site. That project would be in the new 7th District, where Slotkin and Barrett are running.

  • Slotkin, who was first elected to the House in 2018, attended the event in Lansing on Jan. 25 when GM announced its plan. Barrett did not.

  • The new billboards will appear near the state Capitol and in Potterville, according to the DCCC.

  • Michigan lawmakers unveiled plans for the SOAR Fund after Ford Motor Co. announced in September an $11 billion investment, along with 11,000 jobs, in Kentucky and Tennessee. Ford’s decision left Michigan officials concerned about losing out on the electric future of the auto industry, a cornerstone of the state’s economy.

  • Under the current program, money in the SOAR Fund can go only to the Michigan Strategic Site Readiness Fund and the Critical Industry Fund, which can be used to provide the incentives.

  • GM’s package included $600 million from the Critical Industry Fund and $66.1 million from the Strategic Site Readiness Fund.

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