A Michigan Democratic senate candidate has seized on the delayed opening of the Gordie Howe International bridge, turning the controversy into a political liability for U.S. President Donald Trump in a closely watched senate race.
Mallory McMorrow, running in a three-person Democrat primary race, released an advertisement on Wednesday accusing Trump of refusing to open the completed bridge because the Moroun family, which owns the competing Ambassador Bridge, donated $1 million (U.S.) to MAGA Inc.
“I’ve got one message for the president,” said McMorrow in the 16-second video. “Open this damn bridge. You better believe I approve this message.”
The Democratic nominee is expected to face Republican Mike Rogers, who has argued that he will ensure the bridge opens, if he is elected in the midterm election.
But according to The Detroit News, Rogers has said the bridge’s opening should be contingent on Canada limiting the import of Chinese electric vehicles, arguing the U.S. should use it as leverage to push back against Chinese auto production in Canada.
The Star reached out to McMorrow, Rogers and the Ambassador Bridge for comments, but did not receive a response.
It has been two weeks since the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Gordie Howe International Bridge was abruptly cancelled at the Trump administration’s request ahead of its planned June 12 opening, with no clear explanation or timeline for when the bridge will open.
International relations experts said the bridge’s prominence in Michigan’s senate race could increase pressure on the Trump administration as frustration grows among voters in the swing state.
“There is a pretty universal sentiment, even among Republicans, that this has everything to do with the interests of the Morouns, the owners of the Ambassador Bridge, and not the interests of the people of Michigan,” said Roy Norton, the former Canadian Counsul General to Michigan.
“McMorrow is calling out the president on that,” he said.
Norton said Trump’s unpopularity in Michigan over the bridge delay is hurting Rogers, a veteran Republican and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, whose victory would improve Republicans’ chances of retaining control of the Senate.
Fen Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University, also said McMorrow’s advertisement was “good politics,” as it reminds voters that Trump’s crony capitalism is costing them in the pocketbook — and, in this case, happens to be true.
“When the bridge is a money saver for manufacturing for the two-way flow of goods across the border, not opening it when you can open it, is costing Michigan voters heavily,” Hampson said.
Daniel Tisch, president of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, said he was encouraged by what he sees as bipartisan consensus that the Gordie Howe International Bridge should open.
But he warned against linking its opening to electric vehicles or other trade issues.
“There should not be any conditions on the opening of the bridge, given that there is an agreement in place that needs to be respected between the U.S. and Canada,” Tisch said.
Since February, when Trump said on Truth Social that the bridge would not open unless the U.S. was “fully compensated,” other members of his administration have put forward shifting rationales and conditions for its opening, making it difficult to predict what, if any, would ultimately led Trump to authorize it, Norton said.
“Nobody knows what the U.S. request really is,” he said. “We have to hope, the political pressure in Michigan grows to the point whereby the president or those around him recognize that it’s a liability for their political objectives to keep the bridge closed.”
Hampson questioned whether Trump cares about the political cost his actions could impose on Republicans, or whether he is simply trying to force Canada to play by his rules.
“If that’s the only way it’ll be resolved, and I think we may well have to steel ourselves for the fact that it may not open during this presidency,” Hampson said.
“I don’t think Canadians want our government to cave,” he said. “Canadians kind of had enough.”
Stephen Hargreaves, director of the Sandwich Town BIA, home to the Gordie Howe International Bridge, said businesses that had long been counting on the tourism and traffic the bridge was expected to bring to the community found the last-minute cancellation “incredibly disappointing.”
Advertisements promoting cycling trips from Michigan to Windsor’s Sandwich neighbourhood are already in circulation, Hargreaves said, but the bridge has yet to open.
“The bridge is pretty, it’s a very impressive feat, but it’s not there as an art installation,” he said. “It needs to exist as a border crossing.”
With files from The Canadian Press
