Doug Lloyd wants to make the Michigan attorney general’s office boring again

Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd, a Republican, says he has the necessary experience to be Michgian’s next attorney general
Lloyd has repeatedly won in the purple county and says he’s more moderate than Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, a Democrat
Democrats, meanwhile, have criticized Lloyd’s handling of some cases and argue he’d be a ‘rubber stamp’ for Trump policies

LANSING — As he campaigns to be Michigan’s top law enforcement officer, Republican attorney general nominee Doug Lloyd contends he’s the most boring candidate for the job.

Unlike Democrat Eli Savit, Lloyd hasn’t decriminalized psychedelic mushrooms or sex work in his community. He’s continued to use cash bail to ensure people suspected of committing crimes return to court for trial.

Instead of progressive reforms, Lloyd is touting more than two decades of “proven experience” and “trusted leadership” as prosecutor in Eaton County, a purple region where he said he has repeatedly won reelection by appealing to moderates on both sides of the political aisle.

“When I looked around at the people who were getting in (the race for attorney general), all I saw was eight more years of partisanship, and that to me was like ‘enough’s enough’,” Lloyd told Bridge Michigan in a recent interview. “That’s not what the attorney general’s supposed to do.”

Lloyd argues term-limited Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel has politicized her office, through failed prosecutions over the Flint water crisis and the “false electors,” Republicans who falsely certified that Donald Trump won the state in 2020.

Lloyd suggested that a Savit victory would yield more of the same.

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Lloyd said he wants to review state cases to make sure “that we’re doing the things that matter,” such as strengthening consumer protection laws and responding to potential cases in a timelier manner.

But Democrats contend Lloyd would toe the party line for Republicans.

Nessel disputed Lloyd’s accusation she politicized the office but told Bridge she has “great concerns” he won’t continue cases she brought against the Trump administration, including an ongoing effort to shutter the JH Campbell coal plant in West Olive and a 2019 lawsuit to shutter Michigan’s Line 5 pipeline.

Lloyd supports repealing the state’s red-flag gun confiscation law and wants the Legislature to approve a “constitutional carry” law that would allow residents to carry concealed weapons without first obtaining a permit.

And as Lloyd portrays himself as tough-on-crime, Democrats argue he has not been tough enough on some cases, including not bringing charges against a former gymnastics coach with ties to Larry Nassar, the disgraced sports doctor now in prison for serial sexual abuse.

Recent digital ads from the Democratic Attorneys General Association attack Lloyd over a plea deal with an alleged child predator. Critics point to reporting from The Detroit Free Press indicating Lloyd may have used county staff to review a personal legal dispute.

“People are tired of that kind of corruption,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel, who argued that Lloyd will serve as a “rubber stamp” for President Donald Trump’s policies.

Michigan Republican Party Chair Jim Runestad noted that 61 county prosecutors and 29 county sheriffs have endorsed Lloyd bid for attorney general, arguing it’s proof they think he’s up for the job.

Observers say Lloyd has a chance despite headwinds for Republicans following a difficult 2022, which saw the party lose every statewide office for the first time since the 1980s — including the attorney general’s race by more than 370,000 votes.

Recent polling suggests that Savit and Lloyd are in a statistical dead heat, with nearly 30% of voters unaware of either candidate.

“Doug Lloyd may be the one Republican candidate for statewide office that can really pull it off,” said Andrea Bitely, who previously worked for GOP Attorney General Bill Schuette and independent gubernatorial candidate Mike Duggan.

People waving on a stage. — The Michigan Republican Party endorsed Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd (center) to be their pick for attorney general in March. The party later officially nominated him in August. (Jordyn Hermani/Bridge Michigan)

Prosecutorial record

As Eaton County prosecutor since 2013, Lloyd’s office has worked on a number of murder, child sexual assault and financial crime cases, including a 2025 conviction for an Eaton Rapids man who unlawfully imprisoned three teenage girls at gunpoint.

During the campaign, Lloyd has called Savit “soft on crime” because of progressive policies like decriminalizing consensual sex work. Lloyd said that is “foolish” and “ignores the realities of the sex trade.”

Savit, in a prior interview with Bridge, said he isn’t taking his sex work policy statewide, saying how to handle those and other cases “are “decisions that should be made by local prosecutors who are elected in their communities.

Despite both candidates’ efforts to get in front of voters, polls indicate neither Lloyd nor Savit are well known.

The attorney general contest is overshadowed by the race for the state’s open US Senate seat, said Adrian Hemond, a Democratic strategist with the Grassroots Midwest consulting firm in Lansing.

“If you’re not paying obsessive attention to politics, you have no reason to know who these people are,” Hemond said, noting that could be a net negative for Lloyd given his history of keeping a relatively low profile.

Lloyd contends his low profile is a strength.

“You’re not supposed to know who your elected officials are,” he told Bridge, noting many people in his own county don’t recognize him until he reveals his position.

“You’re supposed to know whether your office is doing the right job.”

Scrutiny over USA Gymnastics cases

Lloyd has repeatedly referred to his decades as a prosecutor and four terms in office to contrast himself with Savit, who was first elected in 2020. On his campaign website, Lloyd notes the Eaton County Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for an average of 6,000 cases a year.

It’s “no surprise,” then, that Democrats are criticizing him over a few cases “out of thousands” that he has successfully prosecuted, Lloyd told Bridge.

“They don’t bother to talk about the murder convictions I’ve had, where people sit in prison for the rest of their life,” said Lloyd, shortly after being endorsed by the Police Officers Association of Michigan in September.

James Tignanelli and Doug Lloyd sit at a table together. — Police Officers Association of Michigan President James Tignanelli (right) says the union is backing Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd (left) over Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit to be the state’s next attorney general. (Jordyn Hermani/Bridge Michigan)

One case Democrats point to involves John Geddert, a former USA Gymnastics coach and Nassar associate who was suspended in 2018 amid related abuse allegations.

Five years earlier, in 2013, a juvenile gymnast claimed Geddert physically assaulted her in a locker room, stepping on her foot and shoving her into a wall. Lloyd personally reviewed the complaint and found enough evidence to charge Geddert, though he ultimately allowed the coach to seek counseling and ordered him to issue an apology to the gymnast.

Lloyd told Bridge the “end results” of the case were something the girl’s family “were completely in agreement with.”

“Prosecutors must make decisions based on the evidence before them, not on information that emerges years later,” Lloyd wrote in a letter to Republican delegates ahead of a March endorsement convention.

Further allegations against Geddert emerged in 2018 amid fallout from the Nassar scandal. Lloyd met with parents and victims frustrated by the pace of the investigation in 2019 but reportedly said there was not enough evidence to bring charges against the coach at that time.

Nessel took over the investigation that same year and in 2021 announced 24 criminal charges against Geddert, including 14 counts of human trafficking. Geddert died by suicide the day the charges were announced, which Nessel called “a tragic end to a tragic story for everyone involved.”

Lloyd told Bridge he didn’t press charges against Geddert in 2019 because he lacked the manpower to “do internal investigations like the attorney general’s office could do.”

“That’s exactly what the attorney general should be there for — to help out local prosecutors who have such complex cases or potential budget buster cases that cross multiple counties,” Lloyd said, adding that both Eaton and Clinton counties were simultaneously investigating Geddert’s gym.

Plea deal criticism

Another case that Democrats have focused on involves former Delta Township Supervisor Ken Fletcher, a Democrat, who in 2024 “engaged in sexual conversations” with an Eaton County Sheriff’s Office detective posing as a 15-year-old boy on the gay dating and social network app, Grindr, according to court documents and media reports at the time.

In 2024, Fletcher was arraigned on felony charges of using a computer to commit a crime and accosting a child for immoral purposes. He later pleaded guilty as part of an agreement with Lloyd’s office that called for no upfront jail time. He was sentenced to probation.

Citing the plea, the Democratic Attorneys General Association has run online ads accusing Lloyd of cutting “a deal with an alleged child predator to get probation instead of prison.”

Speaking with Bridge, Lloyd said that while Fletcher did message the teen about a potential meeting, that meetup never happened, which Lloyd said limited his chances of a conviction.

“That’s what a prosecutor does — actually review the facts and evidence,” Lloyd said.

A property fight

Critics have more recently accused Lloyd of using Eaton County resources to try to settle a personal property dispute in northern Michigan.

In 2020, Lloyd and his wife hired Lansing-area contractor Simon Zeineh to build the couple a retirement home on Lake Charlevoix, according to a 2023 affidavit obtained by Bridge.

Lloyd estimated his family had spent over $1.4 million on the construction project, with approximately $677,639 paid directly to Zeineh, but it deteriorated into a dispute over payments, with the Lloyds accusing Zeineh of fraud and Zeineh disputing their claims. A civil lawsuit was later dismissed in 2025 without a judgment for either side.

The case is now drawing additional scrutiny after reporting from the Detroit Free Press showed that James Maltby — a former Eaton County sheriff’s detective working as an independent contractor for Lloyd’s prosecutor’s office — also assisted the Lloyds’ private attorneys on the matter and brought their allegations to the Charlevoix County Sheriff’s Office in 2023.

A sheriff’s report at the time identified Maltby as an Eaton County Prosecutor’s Office investigator and said he described the matter as an investigation into “contractor/building fraud.” Lloyd told the Free PressMaltby was acting as a friend, not in an official role.

While the Charlevoix County Prosecutor’s Office ultimately declined to bring charges against Zeineh, a separate complaint concerning the allegations was referred by Nessel’s office to the Michigan State Police and remained under review as of September 2026.

“The day before the article hits, the attorney general’s office calls my wife and says ‘we are sending it back to the state police for further investigation’,” Lloyd told Bridge, questioning the timing.

Kim Bush, a spokesperson for the Michigan attorney general’s office, told Bridge that Lloyd’s wife had requested the transfer weeks earlier and was informed it would be granted before the Free Press article was published.