MICHIGAN—Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is term-limited, leaving the highest elected office in the state open for the first time since 2018. And both parties are treating this one as a must-win.
Here’s what voters need to know ahead of Election Day:
The race
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and US Rep. John James won their primary elections on Aug. 4. Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who had been running as an independent and led some early polls, ended his campaign in May—setting up a two-way general election on Nov. 3.
Jocelyn Benson (D)
Benson has served as secretary of state since 2019 and, like Whitmer, is term-limited from continuing to serve in her current office. Before that, she was dean of Wayne State University Law School, becoming the youngest woman to lead an accredited law school at age 35.
As Michigan’s top election official, she cut branch wait times with new self-service kiosks and appointment scheduling—an accomplishment that she often touts on the campaign trail.
Benson also spent the past year fighting the US Justice Department’s demand for Michigan’s unredacted voter files—including birthdates, Social Security numbers, and driver’s license data. A Trump-appointed district judge threw the case out in February, and in June the 6th Circuit upheld that ruling, marking a significant defeat for the DOJ in its nationwide push for voter data.
Her gubernatorial platform lists eight top priorities: affordability, housing, healthcare, childcare, energy costs, education, the environment, and state regulations for data centers. That includes expanding a no-strings-attached cash assistance program for new mothers, broadening the homestead property tax credit, and cracking down on corporate investors buying up homes.
Benson supports a weighted school funding formula that would direct more cash to low-income students and English learners, and has proposed a passenger rail network linking Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Traverse City. She has also vowed to protect both abortion access and voting rights.
On data centers, Benson says any project should be required to create “well-paying” union jobs, avoid raising residential energy costs, and disclose water and power use to local communities—and that companies breaking those agreements would face consequences “up to and including a moratorium.”
That issue has also been her sharpest vulnerability in the race. Her husband, Ryan Friedrichs, is a vice president at Related Companies—parent of the developer building a hyperscale data center in Saline Township. Friedrichs moved to a national role in March and no longer works on Michigan projects. The company told Michigan Advance that Friedrichs received no commission on the Saline project and would recuse himself from any future business in the state if Benson becomes the governor. Benson has said none of her family is profiting from data centers.
Benson named state Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks as her running mate in August. As lieutenant governor, Benson says Brinks will focus on lowering costs—including on things like groceries, gas, healthcare, and housing.
John James (R)
James has represented Michigan’s 10th Congressional District since 2023, but has made it clear he’d rather be serving in a different office. He ran for US Senate twice and lost both times—to Debbie Stabenow in 2018 and Gary Peters in 2020—before winning his House seat.
Before politics, he served eight years in the US Army, flying Apache helicopters in Iraq, then led James Group International, his family’s Detroit-based supply chain and logistics company.
President Donald Trump’s endorsement effectively cleared the Republican field for James. State Sen. Aric Nesbitt ended his campaign days later, and former Attorney General Mike Cox dropped out in July. If elected, James would be Michigan’s first Black governor.
His “freedom agenda” is built around eliminating Michigan’s income tax. The rest of his platform includes ethics and transparency reforms, including ending FOIA exemptions for the governor’s office and Legislature; a public education overhaul including a so-called “Parents’ Bill of Rights”; and a health plan focused largely on cost transparency, food quality, and chemical exposure.
James calls education a basic civil right and said he would opt Michigan into the Trump administration’s federal tax-credit scholarship program, which subsidizes private school tuition.
On abortion, James said he wants to pass “the most conservative, most pro-life bill” possible. And in 2018, he described himself as “100% pro-life” and compared abortion to genocide.
On data centers, James has his own financial ties to the industry. Bridge Michigan reviewed state and federal records and uncovered about $114,000 in donations to his various campaigns from the Rakolta family and executives of Walbridge—the Detroit construction firm building that same Saline Township facility—plus roughly $34,000 from utility employees and PACs.
James’ attendance record has drawn scrutiny from both parties. The Detroit News reported he has missed about twice as many roll call votes as any other member of Michigan’s congressional delegation since the start of 2025—skipping 9.2% of votes that year.
Among the bills he missed were a bipartisan housing package and a Great Lakes cleanup reauthorization. But he did show up in January to vote against extending Affordable Care Act tax credits, and in February to protect Trump’s tariffs. He also skipped nearly every multi-candidate forum ahead of the primary election, drawing complaints from several Republican candidates.
Michiganders have already felt the effect of that first vote. After the enhanced tax credits lapsed, marketplace enrollment in the state fell by more than 130,000 people. James also voted for the reconciliation law that cut roughly $1 trillion from Medicaid and made cuts to food assistance.
That same law directed roughly $170 billion toward immigration enforcement, including $45 billion for new detention facilities like the former prison in Baldwin that now houses detainees.
James named state Rep. Jay DeBoyer as his running mate in August. Like James, DeBoyer has been repeatedly endorsed by Right to Life of Michigan—a group that only endorses candidates who support abortion bans with no exceptions for rape or incest. DeBoyer also drew criticism this summer after rejecting a request to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Interlochen.
What’s at stake?
Michigan’s governor plays a critical role in state government. Whoever is elected will sign or veto every bill that passes, appoint department heads and judges, and set the state budget—the same budget James wants to rebuild without an income tax, which currently funds 30% of it.
There’s also a streak on the line: Michigan hasn’t elected a Democrat to succeed a sitting Democratic governor since 1960. With control of the state House also on the ballot, this race will determine not just who runs Lansing but whether anything actually moves through it at all.
READ MORE: How many AI data centers are planned in Michigan? We counted.
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