Michigan hasn’t elected a Democratic governor to succeed a sitting Democrat since 1960. That streak is on the ballot this November, as Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson tries to keep the governor’s office in Democratic hands after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s final term ends.
Benson has cast herself as the person to protect Whitmer’s record from a Trump-aligned Republican opponent, but she’s also spent much of the past year drawing distinctions between herself and the governor she hopes to replace. Those distinctions matter for Michiganders trying to decide whether a Benson governorship means more of the same—particularly as a once-beloved Whitmer falls in favorability.
Benson won the Aug. 4 Democratic primary with roughly 84% of the vote over Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson, according to WNDU. She now faces Republican U.S. Rep. John James in the Nov. 3 general election.
Whitmer endorsed Benson the next day, framing the race as a choice about whether Michigan builds on eight years of Democratic governance or abandons it. “Michigan needs a fighter, someone who gets it,” Whitmer said at a campaign appearance in Lansing. Both women used the joint appearance to criticize James, with Benson noting that he voted three times to raise healthcare costs for Michiganders, according to the Lansing City Pulse.
Aligned: Repro rights, gun safety, civil rights, and public schools
Benson served in state government for the entirety of Whitmer’s administration, and Whitmer has pointed to that shared record as a reason to trust her successor, according to the Washington Examiner. As governor, Whitmer backed the constitutional protection of reproductive freedom under Proposition 3, issued executive actions to implement it, and signed the Reproductive Health Act, protecting medication abortion and IVF access.
She also signed a red flag law and safe storage requirements, and the legislature expanded the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to add LGBTQ+ protections.
Whitmer highlighted those wins, along with free breakfast and lunch for public school students and free pre-K, as central to the legacy she wants Benson to continue, according to Michigan Advance.
Different: Confronting Trump or accommodating him
Benson, whose approach to the MAGA president has been through a demand for rules and guardrails, has spent much of 2026 fighting a Justice Department lawsuit demanding Michigan’s unredacted voter rolls be turned over to the Trump administration. In a Sept. 25 press release, she called the request an “unconstitutional power grab,” according to the Michigan Independent. In June, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Benson, marking the Trump administration’s first appellate loss in a nationwide campaign to obtain state voter data, according to Democracy Docket.
Whitmer’s approach to Trump has been more diplomatic, drawing criticism within her own party. After Whitmer hid from press cameras when spotted alongside Trump at a 2025 Oval Office event where he signed executive orders targeting his political critics, Michigan State Rep. Betsy Coffia and Attorney General Dana Nessel both posted public criticism—without naming Whitmer directly—on X, warning against “appeasement.” Whitmer defended her approach during a public discussion following a speech in Washington, D.C., saying, “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu,” according to the Associated Press. Less than a month later, she shared a hug with the president when he arrived in Michigan to mark his 100th day in office
Close, but different: The economy and housing
Whitmer’s economic approach has centered on corporate subsidies and manufacturing investment. Benson has signaled she wants a different emphasis, telling Bridge Michigan while campaigning that she wants to put more weight on small businesses. “That’s something that I want to spend more focus on as governor,” she told the news outlet.
Whitmer used her final State of the State address to endorse a statewide zoning overhaul and a new affordable housing tax credit. Benson has called that proposal a good start but says she wants to go further by cutting long-standing certification processes that slow down construction, expanding the homestead property tax credit and cracking down on corporate investors buying up residential properties, according to Benson’s campaign platform.
Different: The veto Benson wouldn’t defend
The clearest break between the two came in July, when Whitmer vetoed nine bills that Democratic lawmakers had passed in 2024, including measures adding corrections officers to the state police pension system and shielding teachers, nurses and other public employees from steep new health insurance costs. Whitmer wrote in her veto letter that implementing the bills retroactively would create serious administrative and legal problems, calling their delay “political gamesmanship at its worst,” according to CBS Detroit.
Along with vast numbers of the Democratic party, Benson broke with Whitmer on this publicly. An X post by Detroit News reporter Beth LeBlanc noted the legislation had faced nearly two years of litigation and delay and affected Detroit-area museums, state corrections officer pensions, debt collection protections, and government contributions to employee healthcare.
Benson replied directly. “I’m tired of these political games,” Benson wrote on X, pledging to sign the same bills into law if she becomes governor.
For Michigan voters, the race between Benson and Trump ally John James is a test—not just of Democrat versus Republican, but of whether Benson’s sharper posture toward Washington and her priorities for the state are what Michiganders want to see in a post-Whitmer governor.
