Tudor Dixon, Michigan’s leading Republican gubernatorial candidate, implicitly acknowledged to Bret Baier she only cares about GOP “concerns” about the 2020 election, not the fact that it has been proven legitimate. Anchor Bret Baier let her slide.

Dixon, who received an 11th-hour endorsement from Donald Trump, is now leading in the primary polls.

Baier raised the subject of the 2020 election at about 1:50 in the interview. “Do you think the 2020 election was stolen?” he asked.

Dixon was evasive.

DIXON: It’s certainly a concern to a lot of folks here in Michigan because of the way the election was handled by our secretary of state. She did things that were considered unlawful by a judge. We have to make sure our elections are secure and what happened in 2020 doesn’t happen again. It was obviously a different election. We had COVID going on, there was the opportunity for changes to be made. This secretary of state made those changes, sending out absentee ballot applications to everyone in the state, bringing in Zuckerbucks, reducing the signature match.

We are calling for common sense election law in the state of Michigan. The legislature already passed this, the governor vetoed it. She’s very against voter ID. We think if you don’t like voter ID, there’s a question as to why you don’t like voter ID, so there were definitely things in the 2020 election that have left us concerned about how it was operated.

Baier kinda sorta challenged her:

BAIER: Yeah, but Joe Biden won Michigan by 154,000 votes. I covered the recount in Tallahassee, Florida in 2000, there were 537 votes that decided that election. 154,000 is a different thing. So, are you getting to the point where you say on the stump that the election was stolen, understanding all the concerns you just said?”

Once again, Dixon dodged. But here, she tacitly acknowledged she was focusing on “concerns,” not facts about the election’s validity:

DIXON: You know, I’ve always focused on the concerns when I’ve been out there. You can – if you talk to people across the state of Michigan -  I’ve always focused on the way the election was handled, and how we need to make sure it is secure in the future and that we don’t have people looking back and saying or questioning what actually happened.

FACT CHECK: Those “concerns” have been debunked and rejected by Dixon’s own party. A Republican-led Michigan state Senate committee could not have been clearer in its report about the legitimacy of the 2020 election. From CBS News:

A Republican-controlled Michigan state Senate committee published a report Wednesday affirming that there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election and further, it's calling on the state attorney general to consider investigating some people who have pushed false claims about the election "to raise money or publicity for their own ends."

…

“This Committee found no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud in Michigan's prosecution of the 2020 election," the report said. "Our clear finding is that citizens should be confident the results represent the true results of the ballots cast by the people of Michigan. The Committee strongly recommends citizens use a critical eye and ear toward those who have pushed demonstrably false theories for their own personal gain."

Instead of pressing her on the subject, Baier moved on by lobbing a softball designed to paint Dixon as some kind of victim: He said, “So, this group, Put Michigan First, is backed by the Democratic Governors Association. They’re spending $2 million on a statewide television attack ad against you. The primary is Tuesday.”

Aaron Rupar noted that this is “one way Fox News continues to sanitize the big lie and the authoritarian tendencies it embodies, even as the network (at least some of it) slowly distances itself from Trump.”

You can see that sanitization in action below, from the July 31, 2022 Fox News Sunday.