Fact check: Jocelyn Benson’s family ties to Saline data center

GOP attack ad suggests Democratic governor candidate Jocelyn Benson could get rich off data centers
The ad points to her husband’s work for a company that helped bring a controversial data center to Saline Township
Benson’s husband announced he’s switched roles and is no longer working on Michigan projects. Firm say he made no commission

Proposed data centers have sparked controversy in cities and towns across Michigan and emerged as a key issue for campaigns leading up to the November election. That’s true in the Michigan governor’s race, where both major party candidates have responded by proposing temporary moratoriums.

A recent advertisement from a super PAC supporting Republican John James claims Democrat Jocelyn Benson’s husband could make millions on the most controversial data center in the state, the $43 billion hyperscale data center in Saline Township.

Benson’s husband, Ryan Friedrichs, worked on the project as senior vice president-Michigan for Related Companies, which is helping develop the facility, and vouched for the project before Saline Township officials.

His work on the project wasn’t widely known for much of last year, while Benson was campaigning for governor.

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Now, the company says Friedrichs didn’t earn a commission on the project and is no longer working on it. Benson’s campaign has gone further, saying her “family has not made any money from data centers” at all.

Claims about Benson’s family connection to the Saline Township data center are among several that Bridge Michigan is reviewing in the state’s gubernatorial race between James, a Republican, and Benson, a Democrat. The winner will succeed Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is term-limited.

The claim

The 30-second TV ad from the Mission Michigan super PAC opens with a narrator defending James against criticism of his stock trades, a frequent attack by Democrats, before claiming Benson is the one “using government to get rich.”

“Her lobbyist husband could profit tens of millions” of dollars from the Saline Township data center, the narrator says while recreated images of news stories flash on the screen, including one claiming Friedrichs could receive $70 million.

That figure stems from an estimate of private equity commission rates that a former management consulting firm employee delivered in a state House subcommittee meeting.

But Friedrichs won’t make any commission from the project, Related Companies spokesperson Natalie Ravitz told Bridge. The $70 million estimate cited in the ad was “a number that was seemingly made up,” she said in an email.

In a statement to Bridge, Joanna Burgos, chief strategist for Mission Michigan, wrote that “Jocelyn Benson looked Michigan in the eye and said no one in her family is profiting from data centers. Then she signed a disclosure putting $370,000 a year from the developer into her own household. He is a paid lobbyist for the company. He stood up and spoke for it after the township voted it down.”

Rajan Srinivasan, a spokesperson for Benson’s campaign, called the ad “deceptive” and “false” in a statement to Bridge in which he also criticized James for taking campaign contributions from data center companies.

“Jocelyn is the only candidate who has called for a moratorium on data centers until we can get guardrails in place to protect Michiganders that create well-paying union jobs, pay for their own power, and ban them from getting tax breaks or abusing our water,” Srinivasan wrote.

Alyvia Bailey, a spokesperson for James’ campaign, did not return a message seeking comment.

What we know

Ravitz told Bridge that Friedrichs is an employee of Related Companies, an affiliate of Related Digital, and that he “receives a standard salary and bonus like all members of our team.”

He earned $370,000 in 2025, according to a financial disclosure Benson filed in May. Friedrichs had previously registered as a lobbyist for Related Companies in Michigan, but he terminated that registration in May 2025.

Ravitz added that Friedrichs “receives zero commission or compensation from the Related Digital data center project.” The data center was one of at least three projects he was working on during that stretch, she added.

Prior to a switch earlier this year, Friedrichs “focused on stakeholder engagement” and he “was never a senior leader or developer on the Saline project,” she wrote.

Friedrichs’ work on the data center began in early summer of 2025 and ended in February, Ravitz told Bridge.

During that time, he spoke as a representative of Related Digital during a Nov. 10, 2025, public meeting in Saline, saying that as he “saw the data centers coming to Michigan, I wanted the right ones coming.”

Days later, Michigan Advance reported that Friedrichs would recuse himself from any projects in the state if Benson won the general election.

But in March, Friedrichs announced on LinkedIn that he was changing roles at Related Companies and would no longer be working on any projects in Michigan. That lines up with the timeline that Ravitz provided.

The bottom line

There’s no evidence Benson’s husband could make millions of dollars on the Saline Township data center, as the attack ad claims.

But the Benson campaign’s claim that her family has “not made any money from data centers” omits the fact that her husband earned $370,000 from his employer last year — at least in part for his work on the project.