I dislike toss-up elections — particularly in statewide elections.
The last time a GOP candidate won the Michigan governor's race was in 2014, and I had mostly black hair rather than the salt-and-pepper I now have.
I know Michigan isn't really known as a red state, but it would be great if we caught a break every once in a while.
Right?
I sure think it would be grand.
Now that we are officially in 2026 and Governor Gretchen Whitmer's term will end, fittingly, at the end of the year, we have to elect a new governor in November. Of course, we have the primaries in August, so we have a little time to discuss not only the mess Whitmer is leaving behind, but also who would be worthy to carry the GOP mantle in November 2026.
Luckily, to get a jumpstart on this, I found a story about the who, what, and where from WLNS in Lansing, which has some background.
Michigan’s gubernatorial race is a virtual tie between Democrat Jocelyn Benson and Republican John James, with independent Mike Duggan close behind, according to a new poll from the Detroit News.
Benson and James lead their primaries by a significant margin.
When Duggan is excluded from the poll, the race between Benson and James is within the margin of error, indicating no clear leader.
Thankfully, we have a little time to go through everyone running and make a decision on who is not only qualified but also the best person to lead the Great Lake State.
In this part of the story, I will go through the Democrats running for the donkey nomination to have a shot at the big seat in November. We shall cover the GOP and the Independents in later editions.
From CBS News (regarding current Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson):
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced in January that she would run for governor. Benson, elected in 2018, serves her second term overseeing the state's election processes and the motor vehicle department. She cited her achievements in that role, including decreasing wait times for in-person appointments and installing self-service motor vehicle stations across the state.
Pretty straightforward.
However, there might be a couple of small issues lurking in the bushes regarding the S.O.S.'s soon-to-be-former job.
From the Michigan Advance:
A Michigan Court of Claims judge has ruled against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in a lawsuit challenging a portion of her election guidance on mail-in ballots.
Benson had said that ballots returned with mismatched numbers between the ballot stub and the envelope should be counted as a “challenged ballot,” but Judge Brock A. Swartzle ruled Wednesday that if the numbers do not match, the vote cannot be counted.
Now I know this was a court decision from wayyyyyyy back in December of 2025, but it could (I said COULD) be a problem going forward. We just have to see where the cards fall from this.
The soon-to-be former lieutenant governor, who had been running to become governor, dropped out of the race last week and instead decided to run for secretary of state.
In January 2026, Gilchrist dropped out of the gubernatorial race and announced he was running for Secretary of State.
How about that?
Weird huh!?!?!?!
Now that Gilchrist has left the race, the only Democrat left facing Madame Secretary is Sheriff Chris Swanson.
Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson launched his Democratic bid for governor in February. Swanson was elected sheriff of Michigan's fifth-largest county, Genesee County, in 2020. The announcement marked his full leap into politics after gaining national attention for marching with protesters in 2020 and speaking at the Democratic National Convention last August.
A law and order Democrat — will miracles never cease?
So far, that wraps up the main Democrats running for the nomination to possibly represent Michigan's 9.5 to 10 million people.
After almost eight years of an absolute train wreck of a Democrat running the state, you would normally hope that anybody else running opposite of whoever gets the Democrat nomination would have an automatic lead.
Michigan, though, is not a normal state. If someone claims it is.....
As indicated, in the next couple of days, the GOP candidates running for Governor will be covered right here by yours truly.
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