John James slams Michigan Senate opponent as ‘less than a speed bump’ on Dems' path toward socialism

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John James on why polls are tightening in his Michigan Senate race

John James says he is going to fight onslaught of outside money in his Michigan Senate race with ‘the truth’

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., is putting Michiganders on a path to socialism, his Republican opponent, John James, said Thursday.

“People in the state of Michigan recognize that Gary Peters is all talk,” James told "Fox & Friends."

“They recognize that he says one thing and does another. They recognize that he talks about being moderate when really he votes with Chuck Schumer 95% of the time, which is a solid A as a New York senator, and votes with Bernie Sanders 85% of the time, which is a solid B as a socialist,” James said.

He added: “That doesn’t represent Michigan.” 

'NERVOUS' SCHUMER SPENDING BIG IN MICHIGAN SENATE RACE TO HELP GARY PETERS: MEMO

James, the Michigan Senate GOP candidate, raised $14 million in the third quarter and is within "striking distance" of upsetting the incumbent Peters, according to a campaign memo obtained by Fox News last week.

In a sign of the competitive race, the super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pumped $5.4 million into ad spending in Michigan last week alone to help bolster Peters, the memo authored by James' campaign also revealed.

"Chuck Schumer's Senate Majority PAC will spend $5.4 million in one week -- this is the most money they are spending on any Democrat in the entire nation," James' general consultant, Stu Sandler, wrote in a confidential memo obtained by Fox News. "They are very nervous about John James, and they should be."

Sandler obtained the Democrats' spending information from James' ad buyers, he said. The Senate Majority PAC, which is trying to flip the Senate blue, did not comment on the amount of spending in Michigan this week. But Democrats offered statements expressing confidence Peters will win the support from Michigan voters.

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James said that throughout the course of world history, a centralized government that takes power "away from the people" causes harm in the end.

“Senator Peters would be less than a speed bump against the leftist move toward anarchy and socialism," James said.

"We’ve already seen how that story plays out in Detroit when you let the leftist take over. We don’t need to go to Venezuela. You can see the opportunities leaving our schools, you can see the opportunity leaving our jobs and economic opportunity and Senator Peters has stood by and allowed this to happen … people in Michigan want to change.”

Fox News' Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.