LANSING — Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson won Michigan’s Democratic gubernatorial primary on Tuesday night, advancing to the general election as she seeks to succeed term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
The Associated Press called the race for Benson at 9 p.m., projecting her win over Democratic rival Chris Swanson. She was leading early returns by a wide margin.
“Michigan deserves a governor who answers to the people, not corporations, not the DeVos family, and not Donald Trump,” Benson told supporters in a victory speech after the race was called. “I am committed, as the next governor of Michigan, to making sure we meet this moment.”
See the latest vote tally here:
Benson will face the winner of the Republican gubernatorial primary between US Rep. John James and businessman Perry Johnson in the Nov. 3 general election.
Michigan’s secretary of state since 2019, Benson had a major advantage in both fundraising and polling over Swanson, the Genesee County sheriff. And unlike the heated Republican primary, the Democratic contest remained mostly cordial, allowing Benson a relatively smooth path to the nomination.
Related:
- Live election results for Michigan’s biggest races
- Full coverage of Republican gubernatorial primary
- Full coverage of Democratic US Senate primary
In a sign of confidence, Benson’s campaign this week announced it had reserved $10 million in airtime for general election TV ads, starting in September.
‘A great job,’ but some reservations
Benson’s primary campaign focused primarily on kitchen-table issues, with a refrain of “costs down, wages up, rights protected.” But she has also touted her competence leading the Michigan Department of State, suggesting she could apply efficiency reforms to the whole of state government.
That experience resonated with Lucas Moquin, a 33-year-old Alpena restaurant worker, who told Bridge Michigan he voted for Benson because she’d done well as secretary of state and he’d “like to see what she can do if she gets in as governor.”
Similarly, 74-year-old Toni Smith-Holmes said she thinks Benson will do “a really great job for Michigan.”
But Benson’s relatively easy path through the Democratic Primary means she also struggled to capture the imagination of some primary voters, even among those who backed her.
In Detroit, 33-year-old lawyer Marie Reimers called Benson “the lesser of two evils” but voted for her because she didn’t like the fact that Swanson, a sheriff, worked in law enforcement.
Janelle Schuurman, a 38-year-old hearing aid specialist in Lansing, referred to Swanson as “the cop” and said she voted for Benson “through gritted teeth.”
Schuurman cited concerns over data centers, a refrain repeated by Shawna Kramer, a 30-year-old adult entertainer in Lansing who said she voted for Benson, but “not happily” due what she saw as the candidate’s ties to data centers — something Benson has steadfastly denied.
Those suspicions have dogged Benson in part because her husband, Ryan Friedrichs, is a vice president at The Related Companies and previously worked on bringing a hyperscale project to Saline Township.
When news of his role became public in November 2025, critics sounded alarms, alleging Benson’s family could profit from data centers. As public backlash grew against the planned facilities, Friedrichs announced he would take a new role in the company and no longer work on any Michigan projects.
Making history
Benson heads to the general election looking to upend history: It’s been about 35 years since the same party held onto the Michigan governor’s office for more than two terms, something she is attempting to do by succeeding Whitmer, a fellow Democrat.
But Republicans have not won a statewide office in Michigan in more than a decade, and mid-term elections tend to serve as a referendum on the White House, where President Donald Trump’s popularity has plummeted.
The general election is “an opportunity to grow our coalition to include citizens in every corner of our state who believe, as we do, that the power of the people must always be greater than the people in power,” Benson said at an election night party in Detroit.
“My life’s work is about making that promise, that hope, a reality.”
Michigan voters have spent weeks making up their mind in the primary. Ahead of Tuesday, the Michigan Department of State reported more than 1.3 million ballots had already been cast, either through absentee or early in-person voting, significantly more than in the August 2024 primary.
While they participated in some of the same forums and panels, Benson and Swanson never debated each other one-on-one. Benson declined to attend one televised debate on FOX 2 Detroit, citing a scheduling issue, and her absence was marked by an empty chair.
The race was fundamentally reshaped in May with the withdrawal of independent candidate and former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a longtime Democrat, who raised millions of dollars without a partisan affiliation but said he saw his polling and fundraising numbers slump as the electoral environment shifted in Democrats’ favor.
Duggan had spent months attacking Democrats, hoping to edge in on some of their support, and verbally sparred with Benson at a United Auto Workers forum in the final days of his candidacy, for which Benson called him a “corporate candidate.”
Where does Benson stand on Michigan’s most pressing issues? Read her responses to our Bridge Listens questionnaire here:
