Who's running for Michigan governor: Genesee Sheriff Chris Swanson jumps in
Last updated: Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, at 7:50 p.m. This post will be updated with candidate and campaign announcements ahead of Michigan’s 2026 election.
Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson made his long-expected jump into the Michigan gubernatorial race on Thursday, announcing his campaign for the Democratic nomination.
“The bottom line is, if you want to ask me why I’m running for governor, is I want to help people,” he told supporters who gathered for his speech at Mott Community College. “That’s it, it doesn’t have to be complicated.”
Swanson leaned on his background in law enforcement to propose what he called a “state sheriff network,” with ambassadors assigned to sheriffs by the governor to help citizens with everyday requests.
“You need help, go to the sheriff,” he said. ”If that sheriff can't solve it, next year, that sheriff should be able to pick up a phone and talk to somebody who can. Between the sheriff and the governor, we got your back.”
Swanson touted the criminal justice reforms he’s pursued around Flint, where he gained national attention in 2020 by marching with Black Lives Matter activists who were calling for an end to police violence.
His two most prominent initiatives include a jailhouse education program called IGNITE and an anti-human trafficking task force called GHOST, which targets sexual predators in sting operations.
During a speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Swanson told delegates “let’s walk together,” a callback to the 2020 march, and repeated the phrase during his announcement in Flint. As a number of local labor unions endorsed him, each promised to walk with him.
He also pledged to increase education opportunities in Michigan prisons and said he would work to improve the economy.
“Why are we not bringing manufacturing here? Find new ways and new industries, creating new jobs,” he said.
Swanson said he would run a positive campaign, and indirectly praised fellow candidates Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who is running as an independent, Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Republican state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt.
“They aren't opponents to me. They're options. I promise you this, we will defend our positions, and I'll defend my history, but I will not attack people,” he said.
— Simon D. Schuster
Jocelyn Benson launches campaign
Jan. 22, 2025
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is running for governor.
The two-term Detroit Democrat announced her plans Wednesday morning in a campaign video.
"I'm running for governor to truly make government work for everyone. We need leaders who are transparent and accountable," she said. "We need leaders who are transparent and accountable."
The video included news footage of protestors outside Benson's family home in 2020, when supporters of President Donald Trump waged a pressure campaign to try to overturn his election loss that year.
"I've never backed down from a tough fight or hard work," she said.
Benson's team had inadvertently unveiled her plans in a Tuesday night tweet that was quickly deleted but had included a link to a "Jocelyn Benson for Governor" fundraising page.
That fundraising page went live again Wednesday morning with a quote from Benson saying she is running for governor "to ensure everyone gets a fair shot."
Benson introduced herself as a "mom, military spouse, former teacher, and Secretary of State” and said: “I’ve never backed down from a tough fight or hard work. That's why I know that together, we can build the future Michigan deserves.”
Benson is the first high-profile candidate to join the Democratic gubernatorial primary for a chance to replace term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a longtime Democrat, is running as an independent. Republican state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt launched a campaign last week.
— Simon D. Schuster and Jonathan Oosting
Senate GOP leader Aric Nesbitt jumps in
Jan. 14, 2025
Aric Nesbitt, the Michigan Senate Republican leader, announced Tuesday morning he’ll be seeking the GOP nomination for governor in 2026.
“Michiganders deserve so much better than what they’re getting from these Democrats up in Lansing,” Nesbitt said in an announcement video, touting his roots as a “small-town farm boy.”
The 44-year-old lawmaker served six years in the Michigan House before spending a year as Michigan’s lottery commissioner. Nesbitt is now in his second four-year term in the Michigan Senate. Before elected office, he worked for nine years as a lawyer in the Department of Attorney General.
In his announcement video, Nesbitt said he wants to create a Michigan that’s “freer, more secure and more prosperous than the Michigan of today.”
He highlighted his background as a sixth-generation farmer and listed priorities that include opposing electric vehicles, promoting manufacturing, supporting President-Elect Donald Trump, ending sanctuary cities and protecting gun rights.
— Simon D. Schuster
Former Michigan AG Mike Cox files gubernatorial paperwork
Dec. 23, 2024
Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has filed paperwork with the state allowing him to raise funds for a possible campaign for governor.
The Livonia-based Republican served as the state's top law enforcement official from 2003 through 2010 before returning to private practice as an attorney.
While filing the campaign paperwork means Cox can begin to campaign for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, he's described the move as exploratory.
"I think it's a critical time in Michigan, and I want to part of the solution," he told The Detroit Free Press. "It's time for Michigan to have a fighter again."
— Jonathan Oosting
Mike Duggan launches campaign for governor — as an independent
Dec. 5, 2024
Detroit’s Democratic Mayor Mike Duggan is running for governor of Michigan — as an independent, an unexpected political pivot that one former state official called a "potentially seismic event” for the 2026 race.
Duggan announced his bid in a YouTube video, asking: “What if we upended the system and gave Michigan voters a new choice? A governor who didn’t run as a candidate of either party but went to work every day with no goal except to get people to work together for all of Michigan.”
Duggan was elected mayor of Michigan’s largest city in 2013, when he ran a write-in campaign after failing to qualify for the primary ballot by narrowly missing a one-year residency rule.The position is technically nonpartisan, but Duggan has been a vocal Democrat and spoke at national party conventions.
Duggan declared earlier this year that he was "100% behind" Kamala Harris in the presidential election but said Wednesday that working class voters no longer seem to believe the party represents them.
“There have been a lot of people who feel left out of both parties, feel like they don’t have a place where they belong, and being limited in two parties,” Duggan said. “I’ve watched what’s happened in Lansing, and it has gotten worse and worse. The partisan environment is more and more toxic.”
Read more here: Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan upends Michigan governor race with independent campaign
— Simon D. Schuster
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