After listening to the governor’s annual State of the State address Wednesday, state Rep. Joseph Fox said the governor’s record shows her nod to bipartisanship is disingenuous.

“To Gov. Whitmer, bipartisanship is a ‘half-truth’ meant to score political points,” said Fox, R-Fremont. “If she was serious about bipartisan legislation, then she and the Democrats would share power with Republicans in the evenly split House of Representatives and have conversations about plans that would actually benefit Michigan families. Instead, bipartisanship has become a buzzword to boost the governor’s political ambitions, which leaving the rest of Michigan behind.”

The Michigan House of Representatives is currently split evenly between 54 Republicans and 54 Democrats. Fox also highlighted the partisan legislation that Democrats pushed through the Legislature in 2023.

“Reflecting on the legislation that passed the House last year, which was overwhelmingly supported only by Democrats, it is plain that Gov. Whitmer is making phony claims to bipartisanship,” Fox said. “While Democrats passed a laundry list of bills into law — from restrictions on Second Amendment rights to anti-life policies and beyond — they left Republicans out of the conversation. Conservative voices were outright ignored.”

Fox also criticized the governor’s celebration of expensive, unworkable programs from the enormous, $82 billion budget Democrats passed last year — the largest in Michigan history.

“Michigan cannot prosper while the government throws money at Democrat pork projects and burdens middle-class families with high taxes,” said Fox. “How can the governor think that Michigan is becoming a more attractive place to live? Worse, most of the $82 billion went to big cities; rural and northern Michigan residents had to fight for the scraps, and I anticipate the same will occur this year. In Gov. Whitmer’s state government, big budgets are in style, and taxpayers have to foot the bill.”