WATCH: Local Fox Station Cuts to Commercial During Tudor Dixon’s Opening Remarks in Debate

A Michigan-based Fox affiliate cut away from Republican Tudor Dixon during her opening statements at Tuesday night’s gubernatorial debate.

After Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) gave her opening remarks, Dixon’s were interrupted by advertisements for a college football game and Ashley Furniture. 

“I’m running for governor because Gretchen Whitmer has taken us on the wrong track,” Dixon said. “She’s pushed a radical progressive social agenda, and she hasn’t listened to the problems you have every single day. 

“Radical agendas lead to dangerous things to happen in the state. We’ve lost 82,000 jobs, we see our reading scores have plummeted; our graduation rates have dropped. Our cities are less safe, and the roads aren’t fixed,” she added before the interruption. 

Suddenly, a Fox 47 advertisement for week-long coverage ahead of Saturday’s Big 10 Conference college football game between the Michigan Wolverines and the Michigan State Spartans appeared on the screen. Another ad for an Ashley furniture store in Lansing began to play before cutting back to Dixon’s remarks. 

In total, Michiganders missed 12-13 seconds of her statement. In that time, Dixon hammered Whitmer for “misplaced priorities” and “broke promises.” 

“Misplaced priorities, broken promises, and no plan; that’s what my opponent has to offer. But tonight, you have another opportunity. We can make a change. In 14 days, you can change course,” said Dixon during the cutaway. 

At the 10:00 p.m. time slot, the station acknowledged the “technical issue” and re-aired both candidates opening remarks in full.

“We had an unintended technical issue that cut off a portion of Tudor Dixon’s opening statement,” Lauren Shields, a multimedia journalist at the station, said. “We regret this error. In fairness to both parties, we will re-air those opening statements in full right now, starting with Governor Whitmer as it aired live.” 

Breitbart News reached out to Fox47 and learned that the opening statements ran in full again Wednesday morning with an apology. The station will do this again at the 7:00 p.m. time slot.