- Democrat Garlin Gilchrist beat Republican Anthony Forlini in the race to be Michigan’s next secretary of state
- He will succeed term-limited Democrat Jocelyn Benson, who was elected governor
- Gilchrist has served as lieutenant governor since 2019
LANSING — Democratic Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist beat Republican Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini in the race to succeed Jocelyn Benson as secretary of state.
The Associated Press called the race for Gilchrist at 2 a.m. Wednesday. See the latest vote tally here:
“As your secretary of state, I will protect your right to vote, safeguard your personal information, and make the services you rely on faster and easier to access,” Gilchrist said in a statement, promising to “stand tall” for all Michiganders, no matter who they voted for.
Forlini conceded defeat and congratulated Gilchrist.
“The secretary of state’s responsibilities are significant, and his success in serving Michigan will ultimately be our state’s success,” Forlini said in a statement.
The secretary of state oversees elections, motor vehicle registrations and campaign finance. Benson, a Democrat who is term-limited out of office, is running for goveror and off to an early lead against Republican US Rep. John James.
Both Gilchrist and Forlini promised improvements for the office that oversees 131 branches and 1,500 employees, including more transparency and better service.
They also both agreed on the need to modernize campaign finance reporting, as well as the need to better support local clerks.
Beyond that, they had very different plans.
Throughout the campaign, Forlini emphasized his experience with running elections as clerk of the state’s third-largest county, Macomb, a role he’s held since 2021.
Gilchrist, the state’s lieutenant governor for the last eight years, cited his background as a software engineer as evidence he knows how to make systems more efficient and protect residents’ data.
During an October debate, Gilchrist said he would be the “chief privacy officer” for the state and resist federal involvement in Michigan elections while Forlini promised to clean the state’s voter rolls.
In that same debate, Forlini would not give a strict yes-or-no answer about turning over voter rolls to the federal governmentHe said he saw clean voter rolls as a mutual goal of his and the federal government, regardless of who is in the White House.
But, as Macomb County Clerk, Forlini also ordered an independent audit of the county’s 2020 election results, which critics said gave credence to unfounded conspiracy theories.
Gilchrist outraised Forlini, cumulatively raising just under $3.1 million this cycle to Forilini’s cumulative $810,000, according to October campaign reports.
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