Cox: Michigan’s record is worse than we’d like to admit
With the NFL playoffs just around the corner, it’s timely to remember the instruction of Super Bowl–winning coach Bill Parcells, who famously said, “You are what your record says you are.” The record says the state of Michigan is performing worse than the 2008 Detroit Lions, who were 0–16 and set a record for futility. And much like fans leaving the stadium early, Michigan is losing more population than every state except West Virginia.
So what is Michigan’s record on the fundamentals like education, economic opportunity, and public safety?
Education: Michigan Keeps Fumbling the Ball
Michigan spends heavily on K–12 education; only four states spend more on it.. Yet according to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Michigan is effectively 48th in 4th-grade reading. Only 25% of fourth graders are proficient in reading and just 37% in math. Behind these numbers is a simple truth: Michigan’s teacher-union-run status quo is failing students despite more and more dollars spent.
No surprise there. Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s political career has been fueled by teacher-union support, and her policies reflect it. She eliminated key transparency measures such as school grades and scrapped the third-grade reading retention law (the reforms that helped propel the “Mississippi Miracle”). Her administration has consistently put the system over students, and it shows.
Economy: A Former Powerhouse Stuck in Decline
For most of the 20th century, Michigan led the nation in prosperity and population growth. Today, we struggle under policies that drive families and employers out. Last year, we became only the second state in two decades to raise its income tax on all earners, pushing jobs to neighboring Ohio and Indiana.
Predictably, now Michigan is usually the 2nd or 3rd highest state in monthly Bureau of Labor statistics unemployment rate. This persistent unemployment has contributed to the downward spiral that now places Michigan household incomes at 37th in the United States. These poor economic statistics are accentuating Michigan’s sluggish population growth, which is the 2nd worst in America over the past three decades according to the Bridge Magazine.
Crime & Public Safety: A Defense That Can’t Hold the Line
Offense wins games and defense wins championships. So how is Michigan doing in defending its citizens? According to the FBI, Michigan has four cities in the FBI’s list of the top 50 violent cities. Detroit is the second most violent city in America and third in homicides. US News & World Report puts Michigan at 38th in public safety, on the verge of joining another Top Ten list that no state wants to be on.
Yet the Whitmer administration treats public safety as an afterthought, with no coherent plan to reduce violent crime or support local law enforcement.
The Common Thread: Talent Without a Game Plan
What makes this decline so frustrating is that we should be winning.
Michigan has over 10,000 inland lakes, touches four of the Great Lakes, is located on the border with our largest trading partner, Canada, and possesses world‑class universities, iconic industries, natural resources, and world-class engineers and researchers. We have a hardworking ethic and the talent to compete with anyone. But instead of focusing on fundamentals, we get trick plays. Reading, job creation, and safe communities are sacrificed at the altar of culture wars and press‑conference politics.
Championship teams don’t win by accident. They win because they have vision, discipline, and a coach who knows how to win. Michigan is missing too many of those pieces.
We Need to Start with a Change in Culture and Leadership
A team that plans to lose is bound to fail. Here’s the good news: turnarounds happen. We have a gameplay to turn the state around. As our neighboring Indiana University and Coach Cignetti have shown, failing teams can become national championship contenders when leadership changes.
As a Marine, homicide prosecutor, Attorney General, and successful businessman, I built teams that focused on the goal, executed the gameplan, and were relentless until the goal was accomplished.
I am running for Governor to make Michigan the State that my (legal) immigrant parents came to a generation ago: the greatest state in the greatest Nation on Earth. Michigan has the talent and tools to win again. Our citizens deserve no less. In 2026, we will win again if we are bold enough to elect a Governor who has the plan and will to Make Michigan Great Again.