Just two days after the inauguration of the 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, the campaign to replace failed Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer in the state of Michigan has officially begun. However, to those who watch the political scene in this state, it came as no surprise that the current secretary of state has thrown her hat into the ring for the contest, which will happen in November of 2026. 

Jocelyn Benson made the announcement earlier this morning which was covered right HERE...

 Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democratic former law school dean who oversaw two presidential elections in battleground Michigan, is launching a campaign Wednesday to become the state's next governor.

In an interview with The Detroit News, Benson said she wants to be known as "the governor who puts transparency and efficiency at the forefront." The 47-year-old Detroiter is expected to face a crowded race for the Democratic nomination and a competitive contest in the 2026 general election. Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer can't run again because of term limits.

Benson is officially starting her bid for Michigan's top political office on the 52nd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, which had protected access to abortion nationally, until it was overturned on June 24, 2022. Benson vowed to be a governor who supports abortion rights.

In the blue state of Michigan, I'm going to give her the edge currently being she has run back-to-back state races, winning the SOS office pretty handily in 2018 and 2022.

I know I'm going to get pushback and resistance from people who believe that because Donald Trump won here back in November that somehow Michigan is a red state and believe that the tide has changed.

Let me explain to you why that is utter nonsense. 

Donald Trump won the state in 2016 by just over 11,000 votes, 47.6 percent to 47.4 percent, and in 2024 by 80 thousand, or 49.7 percent to 48.3, which of course were historic wins. This is not because they were blowout victories by any stretch of the imagination but because Michigan is a very blue state and has been for two decades going on three.

The Michigan GOP and its stalwarts have been screaming from the mountaintops to anyone who will listen that the force known as Donald Trump somehow is single-handedly turned the tide in the state of Michigan to become a red state or at the very best purple.

Yet history shows a different story from a long-term standpoint.

We have NOT elected a conservative as governor here since John Engler in 1998. Rick Snyder winning as a Republican was adorable as a GOPer, but as the kids on social media like to yell, he was RINO, and he actually was.

On the United States Senate side, we had a close race here back in 2024 with Republican Mike Rogers (who was endorsed by President Trump) losing to Elissa Slotkin by 19,006, or 48.6 percent to 48.3 percent, which was really close. Rogers was not Donald Trump though, so he ended up losing. 

That happens here a lot to statewide Republicans not named Trump it seems.

That contest above continued a 30-year streak of Republicans not winning a federal senate seat in this state since 1994 with the election of Spencer Abraham, who was eventually defeated in 2000 by the now-retired Debbie Stabenow.

The Michigan Republican Party and its leadership itself have been dismal much of the whole time that this streak has been occurring. That's not to say that some people in the political and consultant businesses have not made some dough, but those actual results of winning statewide don't really matter to them.

In fact, last year the party had to jettison its chairperson and replace her with Pete Hoekstra, who Donald Trump just selected as the new ambassador to Canada.

So until the majority of the people running the state party are actually competent conservatives first and knowledgeable at running a statewide party, I don't see Michigan GOP fighting a good solid battle to win for Republicans statewide.

In all fairness, we still have a while to go for the GOP to select a nominee to face off against Benson, and she actually has to win the Democrat nomination.

Yet sitting here today with the glow of the newly inaugurated Trump presidency just hours old, I admit a lot has to happen until the lineup is set for Michigan in November 2026. The state party convention happens next month to select a new chairperson to replace Ambassador Hoekstra and once that happens, they will begin to lay out the groundwork for the election in 2026. 

I have high hopes.

However, history has not been kind to Michigan in regard to defeating Democrats, and likely to repeat itself here.