Will Jocelyn Benson be Michigan’s Next Governor?

She has a brilliant resume … but will it sell in the Trump era?

DETROIT -- It’s likely that there are men and women who are strangers today, but who will meet, fall in love, get married and have a baby before the next election for governor of Michigan.

Nevertheless, the campaign is already under way, at least in Michigan, where, in a totally unsurprising move, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson declared last week that she was running for the Democratic nomination for governor.

The 47-year-old Benson, who instantly became the front-runner, has impressive credentials, and is also one of the most breathtakingly ambitious people I’ve ever met.

A Pittsburgh native, she graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley and got a master’s degree in sociology at Magdalen College in Oxford, England, then worked as an investigator for the Southern Poverty Law Center before getting her law degree from Harvard.

She moved to Michigan to become law clerk to a federal judge, and married Ryan Friedrichs, who was briefly Detroit’s chief development officer. No slouch himself in the ambition department, he joined the army at age 34, and served as a combat paratrooper in Afghanistan. His wife promptly started a group called Military Spouses of Michigan.)When Benson was 35, she was named dean of Wayne State University Law School, becoming became the youngest woman ever to lead a law school of that size.

The year before that, she had been the Democratic nominee for secretary of state and wrote a book called Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process.

Unfortunately for Benson, 2010 was a big Republican year. She lost, but ran ahead of every other Democrat on the ticket.

After that, she ran the law school for three years, moved on to run a center for equality in sports, and then, when she was more than eight months pregnant, ran the Boston Marathon. (Her son Aiden was born on time and just fine.) Then, in 2018, she ran for secretary of state again, won easily, and was reelected by a landslide in 2022.

Her career as secretary of state was notable for her efforts to make sure the Covid-19 epidemic didn’t prevent people from voting in 2020, mainly by mailing absentee ballots for both the primary and general elections to every one of Michigan’s more than seven million registered voters. Benson also had to endure “Stop the Steal” protestors who falsely claimed former President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state was rigged.

Michigan limits statewide office holders to two four year terms, meaning Benson, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer all have to leave on January 1, 2027.

Nessel has repeatedly said she has no interest in being governor. Until last month, most expected a competitive Democratic primary between Benson and popular Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

But he then stunned everyone by announcing he would run as an independent.That would seem to give Jocelyn Benson a clear path to winning the Democratic nomination, though Lieutenant Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, the state’s highest-ranking African-American officeholder, may be considering a bid.

Indeed, Emily’s List, famous for pouring money into women’s campaigns almost immediately endorsed her, as did at least two other political action committees and many local politicians.

But in addition to the threat of Duggan siphoning off usually Democratic votes, Benson has another potential disadvantage in a general election. She was elected as part of a team with Governor Whitmer, and may find it hard to criticize her fellow Democrat for anything. Additionally so far she has failed to articulate an agenda for why she should be governor, beyond saying the platitudes that she wants “to truly make government work for everyone,” and “we need leaders who are transparent and accountable.”

Gretchen Whitmer, on the other hand, had a highly effective slogan, “just fix the damn roads.”

What nobody yet knows is whether Michigan Republicans can come up with an appealing candidate. So far, the GOP’s only declared candidate is their state senate minority leader, Aric Nesbitt, a self-described “farm boy” from southwest Michigan with essentially zero name recognition among the general public.

In 2022, Michigan Republicans committed a form of electoral suicide: Several of their candidates for governor were ruled off the ballot due to petition fraud, and they ended up nominating Tudor Dixon, a complete unknown with extreme anti-abortion views.

She lost decisively. There are also three other factors. Michigan voters tend to rotate which party they put in the statehouse every eight years, which should favor Republicans.

But there also tends to be a reaction in midterm elections against the party in the White House, something that should help Democrats.

Finally, there’s always the issue of money, also known as the mother’s milk of politics. Next year, winning the race for governor could easily cost $50 million or more.

Once, long ago, I criticized a candidate for spending more than a dollar per voter. These days, campaigns for a puny seat in the legislature can often cost a million or more. In many places a buck per voter would be barely pocket change.

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