Nesbitt Staffer's Firm Works For James Campaign, Raising Ethics Flags In GOP Governor Race

Michigan Advance

October 31, 2025

The Michigan Senate’s top Republican lawmaker is running for governor, but one of his key staffers, who moonlights as a political consultant, is working for his biggest rival in the race, a situation described as “unethical” by one major Lansing political operative.

Public data shows that Victory Field Operations has been paid throughout the cycle by the campaign of U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Township) for ballot access work. Additionally, Mission Michigan, the issues-based political action committee supporting James, has paid the firm for political strategy consulting.

Victory Field Operations is a Republican petition signature collection firm founded by consultant Meghan Reckling, chief of staff for state Sen. Lana Theis (R-Brighton), and Jeff Wiggins, the current press secretary and senior advisor to Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt’s legislative office.

Michigan Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt answers a question at the Michigan Republican Party gubernatorial debate in Sparta, Mich. Oct. 29, 2025 | Photo by Ben Solis/Michigan Advance

Nesbitt is also running for governor, raising questions of whether Wiggins was playing both sides of an intraparty horserace for the top seat in Michigan government.

Other Republicans seeking the GOP nomination include former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, Genesee County truck driver Anthony Hudson, former Michigan House Speaker Tom Leonard, pastor Ralph Rebandt and anti-property tax advocate Karla Wagner.

Mission Michigan was created in April to support James, and received a large $5 million contribution from Dan and Pamela DeVos, members of the prominent Republican DeVos family. The Detroit News’ editorial page editor, Kaitlyn Buss, wrote about the influx of cash from members of the DeVos family to Mission Michigan in May.

Michigan campaign finance reports show that the committee paid Victory Field Operations $40,000 for political strategy consulting, according to July and September filings.

The Michigan campaign finance reporting and disclosure interface has, by all accounts, struggled over the past year to accurately report filings due to an overhaul of the system, which has caused some backlash from the oversight arm of the state House of Representatives. Several instances have arisen where filings needed to be amended due to issues with the system.

Mission Michigan’s treasurer did not respond to two phone calls and messages requesting confirmation that it paid Victory Field Operations for strategy consulting.

James is viewed as a leading candidate for the office of governor on the Republican side, a campaign being waged against the better wishes of President Donald Trump and the leaders of the GOP majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Wiggins’ firm was founded in the wake of the 2022 petition signature scandal that sank the gubernatorial campaigns of several Republicans, preventing James Craig, Michael Brown, Donna Brandenburg, Perry Johnson and Michael Markey from ever reaching the ballot that year.

Victory Field Operations aims to cut out the third-party signature collection vendors, the type of which caused the 2022 debacle, and to ensure that quality Republican candidates can make it on the ballot. The outfit also prides itself on its in-house work ethic.

In an interview with Michigan Advance, Wiggins was asked if there had been a firewall built around his work with Victory and its work for James’ campaign given that his legislative staff position serves in an advisory role to Nesbitt.

“We ensure that all of our clients are comfortable with who they work with at our company,” Wiggins said. “And there are point people who work with specific clients, and so we do everything to make sure that our clients are comfortable with who their point person is at our company. If the candidates are comfortable, it’s whatever our clients are comfortable with.”

When asked more pointedly if he was the point person for James’ campaign with Victory Field Operations, Wiggins said he was not willing or able to discuss the inner workings of the company.

Asked if Nesbitt knew about the work he was doing on the side for James, or if he raised any concerns about him working for the campaign, Wiggins again said that he was not able to discuss client communications.

U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Twp.) at a campaign event for JD Vance in Shelby Twp. on Aug. 7, 2024. | Lucy Valeski/Michigan Advance

Two Lansing and Michigan political insiders who spoke with the Advance said the situation was a clear conflict of interest, even if it wasn’t illegal in terms of Michigan election law.

“It’s very unethical, and I would question his allegiance to either candidate,” said John Truscott, CEO of the Lansing-based bipartisan Truscott Rossman communications firm and an expert in public relations. “You can’t get paid a government salary working for one candidate, and get a campaign salary while being paid by another one. I don’t know anybody who thinks that would be OK.”

Truscott went on to say that the situation and others like it was “a symptom of the lack of ethics that seems to be creeping into every corner around Lansing these days.”

“I really thought that, looking at things like the prosecution of [former House Speaker] Rick Johnson and the prosecution of [former House Speaker] Lee Chatfield … would get people to tighten up and look at their conduct more carefully,” Truscott said. “But it appears things are getting even more loose, and that’s really unfortunate. It’s what drives the public to not have any faith in their elected leadership. If I were Aric Nesbitt or John James, I would fire him immediately.”

Jeff Timmer, formerly the executive director of the Michigan Republican Party, and now a principal of the political strategy firm Two Rivers Public Affairs, as well as a senior advisor to the Lincoln Project, said that it was certainly unethical, but the more interesting aspect, in his view, was that it was all happening out in the open.

“This is all transparently disclosed, so it’s not like you can be sneaking around behind your boss’s back,” Timmer said.

He also employed a sports analogy to describe the situation, noting that James hiring Nesbitt’s legislative senior advisor, and that Nesbitt would allow Wiggins to be hired by James, is akin to a coordinator for one football team building a game plan during the week and then showing up on the sideline of another team on game day.

Asked if that analogy still held water even though Wiggins wasn’t working on Nesbitt’s campaign, Timmer said he believed that it did.

“You don’t work both sides of the fight,” Timmer said.

In response, Wiggins said he considers Victory Field Operations as a vendor for ballot access, nothing more. Riffing off Timmer’s football analogy, Wiggins said the work, in his view, was more akin to making the pads and helmets for high-impact players.

“We make sure that the people that are trying to play the game are doing so as safely as possible,” he said.

The Michigan Advance, a hard-hitting, nonprofit news site, covers politics and policy across the state of Michigan through in-depth stories, blog posts, and social media updates, as well as top-notch progressive commentary. The Advance is part of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by grants and a coalition of donors and readers.