Gloves come off as 5 Republican candidates for governor debate in Warren

WARREN, Mich. (FOX 2) - The five Republican candidates for governor shared the same stage for the first time Thursday night at the Royalty House in Warren.

The candidates shared their ideas and at times did not hold back in going after each other, while sharing their plans for Michigan.

"What did you all do in 2020,. that’s what the people want to know," said Garrett Soldano.

"I’ll tell you what I did, I’m tired of this story you always tell, 'I’m the only one who stood up,'" said Ralph Rebrandt. "I counciled the people that Whitmer locked down who were suicidal."

Tudor Dixon— Ryan Kelley— Kevin Rinke—Rebrandt and Soldano said where they stood on several issues.

All candidates say they oppose abortion. Some believe there should be exceptions, while others don't.

"Life of the mother, rape and incest - that’s my position," Rinke said.

"I have absolutely no exceptions," Rebrandt said. "And the reason why is because when a mother is under duress and that pregnancy is questionable, she does not go to an abortion mill. She goes to the hospital and the doctors try to save both lives. That's what happens."

With Michigan's coronavirus response, the candidates believe Governor Gretchen Whitmer went too far with her 2020 lockdowns.

"We saw what happened when our state was shut down by a tyrant governor who refuses to work with our legislature and refuses to see the struggles that Michiganders go through every single day," Dixon said.

Moderator Charlie Langton: "What kind of restrictions on private enterprise?"

"That’s a great question," Kelley said. "When it comes to vaccine mandates, we will make it so there are no vaccine mandates across the state."

See Also: Republican gubernatorial candidate debate at Mackinac Policy Conference

And turning to the economy, the candidates weighed in.

"Our spending is out of control," Soldano said. "So what's missing? We are overspending so we have to do a forensic accounting on our budget. We have to go through that, we have to eliminate all the wasteful spending. When we do that, we can do the things Kevin Rinke wants to do, and eliminate the state income tax."

"We are going to focus on Line 5 - its 33,000 jobs, $2.87 billion of economic stimulus," Rinke said. "We’re going to focus on Space Force and bringing specialty aerospace products into Michigan."

Voters in attendance liked what they heard.

"Each of them bring something different to the table," said Ronald Dwyer, of Troy. "Something that I think Michigan needs. They’re all pro business."

All the candidates say they do believe there was some election fraud in 2020 even though numerous challenges to the results have proven fruitless.

WATCH the full debate below: