'Trump loyalty' war leaves swing state Republican 'panicking'

Republican opponents of U.S. Rep. John James have spent much of the 2026 election cycle questioning his competitiveness in the GOP side of the gubernatorial race, but a new ad hits on a potential vulnerability for James: his loyalty to President Donald Trump.

The ad was produced by Michigan First Principles, a group reportedly run by a Republican consultant with a penchant for siding with Republicans who have criticized Trump in the past. It hits James square in the eyes over his decision to run for governor despite Trump expressing some public displeasure over his bid.

But others noted the group’s connections to Republican power player John Yob and attorney W. Alan Wilk, a close former associate of independent gubernatorial candidate Mike Duggan, leaving some to cast blame on Yob and Duggan for stirring up the discourse.Both Yob and Duggan’s campaign told Michigan Advance that they were not behind the ad. Other reporting appears to point more toward political consultant Doug Stafford as being responsible for the ad. Stafford has advised both U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, two Republicans from Kentucky who have not been shy in recent years to criticize Trump in key areas. In the case of Massie, the representative has been a driving force in exposing Trump’s tight connection to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the effort to prevent the numerous files from criminal cases against Epstein from being released.

Still, the rumor mill persisted on whether Yob was really pulling the strings.

James’ campaign quickly followed that attack with an ad of its own, highlighting the ways in which James was loyal to Trump and his second-term agenda. James’ campaign told Michigan Advance that the ad was already in the creative content flow and was not a direct response to the Michigan First Principles ad, but some did not see it that way, including Michigan Democrats, who labeled the skirmish as emerging intraparty divide over James, who has positioned himself as the GOP frontrunner.

Seeds of the ‘disloyal’ James attacks started last year

In June 2025, Trump held a news conference when he signed James’ bill prohibiting the state of California’s electric vehicle mandates. James delighted in the ceremony on X, but Trump later ribbed him for deciding to run for governor instead of running for reelection in Michigan’s 10th Congressional District, a fairly safe Republican seat and helping Trump maintain his Congressional majority.

Trump for months has lamented that Republicans needed to hold the House for fear he might be impeached if the chamber flips to Democrats in the 2026 midterms.

The Michigan First Principles ad highlights that interaction between Trump and James last year, then insinuates Trump had saved James’ career by endorsing him for Congress in 2024 after he lost his bid for the U.S. Senate against stalwart Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Peters in 2020. The ad then notes the endorsement came in spite of James saying two years prior that Trump was not fit to lead because of his commentary on disregarding parts of the U.S. Constitution that the president didn’t like

While James ultimately cozied back up with Trump and has been a key mouthpiece for his political agenda during his second term,, the ad makes it seem as though James was never loyal to Trump, and that his new loyalty cannot be counted on if things go awry from Trump in the face of a potential Democratic blowout in 2026.

James swings, but don’t call it a comeback

In the heat of the fight, James, on Thursday, dropped an ad to highlight the fact that he is leading in some key polls and stood with Trump “every time,” even though his past public statements show otherwise.

He also tied his candidacy for governor as a hedge against Democrats going after Trump and his agenda in Congress, or rather a wall against them impeaching him again if the Democrats succeed in flipping Congress. That’s despite governors having essentially no say over whether a president gets impeached in the U.S. House and Senate, and that the ad at times reads more like a Congressional district campaign hit than one for governor.

Still, the campaign said it was not a direct response to what Michigan First Principles put out and instead speaks to what James can bring to the table for Michigan.

A springboard for Perry Johnson?

Meanwhile, in Michigan, with Stafford being reported to be behind the Michigan First Principles ad, political observers of all stripes pointed to Michigan First Principles’ connections to not only Yob and Wilk, but also potentially Perry Johnson, who ran for governor in 2022 before being tossed off the ballot in a fake petition signature scandal and then an abortive presidential run in 2024.

Yob worked for Johnson during his gubernatorial bid and it was rumored that the anti-James ad could be a soft springboard for Johnson to potentially enter the gubernatorial fray, and with support again from Yob.

The Wilk connection was a little more solid: The Detroit News reported Wilk, an attorney, incorporated Michigan First Principles, as well as another group, Put Progress First, supporting Duggan’s bid. It was reported that Wilk also worked on Duggan’s previous mayoral campaigns.

The News also reported, however, that the company who had been placing the ad buys for the Michigan First Principles hit had the same P.O. Box as AdVictory, based in Grand Rapids, which was Yob’s company and is now associated with political consultant Adam Meldrum.

Is the White House lashing out at James?

Yob has close ties to the White House, and some also perceived the attack on James as potentially coming down from upon high due to Trump’s frustrations with him not staying in Congress. He told the Advance that it wasn’t his doing, but his statement didn’t pull any punches.

“I join many Republicans in agreeing with President Trump’s concerns with John James’ candidacy and therefore support the direction of the advertising, but it isn’t my group and I refer questions to the people running it,” Yob said.

Some saw that statement as a veiled expression of Trump’s growing frustration with James, which might be growing so large that the White House would give the greenlight to its operatives with Michigan ties to start hitting back at James.

The Advance asked the White House communications team if any of that rumor mill was even remotely true, but a message seeking comment was not returned at the time of publication.

Duggan had no role and wants James to stay in the race

As the advertisement landed, James’ campaign surrogates went on the attack, including Tori Sachs, a longtime Republican consultant and pundit who currently works as an adviser to James’s campaign.

On X, Sachs said it was her read that the ad was a tag team job between Duggan’s team and Johnson’s allies.

“Both want to block John James – the strongest GOP candidate – from the general election. James is the ONLY Republican leading Democrats in the General Election polls & the only one who can lift a weight without falling over,” Sachs wrote. “The old Detroit/Lansing political machine that wrecked our state continues to churn. Time to end it.”

Andrea Bitely, Duggan’s campaign spokesperson, told the Advance that Duggan’s team was not behind the ad. She also jabbed at Sachs in an X post of her own, noting that the campaign views James as a Republican it can beat if he ends up winning the nomination.

“Based on what we’ve seen from the James campaign so far, the last thing Mike Duggan wants is for John James to lose the Republican nomination,” Bitely wrote.

Her comment was a reference to numerous attacks other Republican gubernatorial candidates, like Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt and former Attorney General Mike Cox, have lobbed at James. Both candidates have accused James for not campaigning enough in Michigan, evidenced by him skipping debates and not appearing at key GOP functions where donors and grassroots activists mingle together.

Michigan Democrats also got a jab in during the back and forth, noting that both James and Duggan will be in Traverse City on Friday for the Northern Michigan Policy Conference.

“John James and Mike Duggan are storming into Traverse City ensnared in chaos as accusations have flown this week and the airwaves are blitzed with attacks on James,” said Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Derrick Honeyman in a statement. “It’s clear that James is panicking and desperately trying to show his loyalty to Trump, while Duggan has continued to remain silent on Trump’s disastrous policies as he cozies up to Trump and MAGA megadonors.”

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