- Election officials are tallying votes to determine who will be Michigan’s next governor: Democrat Jocelyn Benson or Republican John James
- The race carries major policy implications for a state struggling with low academic performance and sluggish population growth
- Benson currently serves as secretary of state, while James is a member of the US House
LANSING — Democrat Jocelyn Benson was out to an early lead in the Michigan governor’s race after polls closed across the state.
Partial results out of blue-tilting Oakland County showed Benson with a strong lead over Republican John James in suburban Detroit, and she was also ahead in tallies of early voting in Kent County, home to Grand Rapids.
Benson is hoping to buck history to become the first candidate to succeed a governor from the same political party since Michigan implemented term limits in 1992.
James is attempting to overcome national trends and the unpopularity of President Donald Trump. If elected, he’d be Michigan’s first Black governor.
Polls in most of the state closed at 8 p.m. Follow live results here:
Benson and James are competing to replace Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is term limited and cannot seek reelection.
The race is certain to have far-reaching policy implications for Michigan, and the winner will take over a state with struggling schools, stagnant population growth and an economy outpaced by neighboring states.
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Both have pitched a vision of how they’d like to reshape Lansing, from a new funding model for schools to tax cuts and an overhaul of the state’s regulatory apparatus.
Benson built her campaign around healthcare and affordability, leaning on her record as secretary as evidence she can make government more efficient and responsive to taxpayers.
“The heart of our campaign … is costs down, wages up, and fighting for the people of Michigan and ending corruption,” Benson told supporters during a campaign-closing bus tour. “As governor, I will work for you — not the highest bidder, not Donald Trump — you and the people of this state.”
James has cast his candidacy as an opportunity for change in Lansing, arguing eight years of Democratic leadership is to blame for Michigan’s trajectory.
“Don’t let anybody tell you that affordability alone is what you should strive for, but prosperity is what you should strive for. Right now, we have people dumbing it down, saying that we should just accept just getting by,” James said in an October speech to supporters.
“We’re not going to accept getting by because the American dream is our birthright, and greatness is in our DNA. We just need leadership who believes in you as much as I do.”
The gubernatorial candidates have had to campaign in the shadow of a behemoth US Senate race that’s seen vastly more spending, which has complicated their efforts to reach voters.
Benson’s counterpart in the Senate race, Abdul El-Sayed, is running a substantially more progressive campaign, while Trump — who faces nearly 60% disapproval in Michigan — has repeatedly inserted himself into state politics and told Michiganders to vote “like I’m on the ballot.”
The president’s presence has made James’ tightrope all the more tenuous. He rallied with Trump and courted his support while trying to turn voters’ attention back to Michigan-specific issues.
“We’re losing our kids, and y’all are focusing on some dude in Washington, D.C. that’s going to be done in two years? We are smarter than that,” James told reporters after the second gubernatorial debate.
Bridge Michigan has chronicled the candidates’ proposals to pressing policy questions on education, healthcare, the environment, economy and democracy.
What voters said
Traverse City voter Elaine Hatch told Bridge Michigan she voted for Benson on Tuesday because “she is a female, for one,” but also because “I think she has done a great job as Secretary of State.”
Hatch, a 61-year-old logistics manager for an import/expert company, called herself a lifelong Democrat who was especially motivated to vote this year to protest Trump.
In Monroe County’s Lambertville, Timothy and Consuelo Cousino described themselves as former Trump voters who this year backed Benson and all other Democrats on the ballot.
“I thought maybe he could help (the country) financially,” said Consuelo Cousino, 45, a stay-at-home mom of five children.
But that didn’t happen, they said. Prices have surged. Worse, “there’s so much hate in the country right now,” said Timothy Cousino, 43, a city worker and member of the 180th National Guard in Toledo.
Trump may not have been on the ballot, but he drove their votes solidly blue this year, Timothy Cousino said: “I went blue down the line; that’s how irritated I am.”
But Mike Haines of Warren, a 57-year-old business owner, said he voted for James after backing Democrats in some past elections.
“John James is more upfront, straight-shooting,” Haines said. “I have an appreciation for his approach, from all the way back to COVID situations as compared to how Benson and the administration was dealing with it.”
Jesus Villa, a 34-year-old architect who lived in Traverse City and voted in his first general election as a US citizen on Tuesday, said he split his ticket to vote for James and Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
“My thinking is that the government has to be managed or controlled as a business,” Villa said, explaining his support for James, who helped run his family business in Detroit after serving in the US Army.
An almost unprecedented election
The contest to succeed Whitmer began with a shock: a month after the 2024 presidential election, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced he would leave the Democratic Party to run for governor as an independent, betting voters would back a problem-solving pragmatist who eschewed partisan labels.
Duggan raised millions and rose quickly in polls, seemingly setting the stage for a competitive three-way gubernatorial race unprecedented in modern Michigan politics.
But by May 2026, the national political climate had shifted, as anger toward the Trump administration translated into increased support for Democratic candidates. As his fundraising began to falter, and without the institutional support of a major party, Duggan determined his path to victory had closed and withdrew from the race.
“I never ran to be a spoiler,” Duggan said in his announcement. “I was trying to change politics.” Republicans and Democrats alike scrambled to pick up his supporters in the ensuing weeks.
The road to November
James won a contested primary but faced significant attacks in the process.
The GOP field at one point swelled to eight candidates, though by the time of the August primary had contracted to a two-man contest between James and businessman Perry Johnson, a self-funded candidate who put more than $30 million of his personal fortune into his campaign.
Johnson used a flurry of advertising to promise he’d slash Michigan taxes, but James won Trump’s endorsement and went on to win the primary by about 15 percentage points.
Benson, meanwhile, enjoyed a more cordial primary against Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson, whom she easily bested by more than 66 points.
Benson took and maintained a fundraising advantage in the general election race. At one point in early October, it seems James had been left to “twist in the wind,” as one GOP strategist put it, after the Republican Governors Association pulled its ad reservations, leaving Benson with a roughly 12-to-1 spending advantage in the final month of the race.
That abruptly changed in the last two weeks, however, after the Michigan Republican Party began spending millions to support James and other statewide candidates, thanks to big donations from DeVos family members, Elon Musk and outside super PACs.
The late support seemingly ran afoul of Michigan campaign finance law, which caps coordinated spending between the party and candidates, prompting a complaint from the Michigan Democratic Party that has not been resolved. James argued the spending was legal because a recent US Supreme Court decision had nullified similar spending limits in federal races.
Ad tracking firm AdImpact reported nearly $41 million has been spent on broadcast ads in the gubernatorial general election, with 56% of that designed to benefit Benson. Counting primary spending by Johnson, total spending in the race neared $74 million.
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