Michigan Supreme Court: Who members are, when they face election
The Michigan Supreme Court is made up of seven members.
A group of Republicans asking the U.S. Department of Justice to oversee the 2026 elections in battleground Michigan alleges that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s gubernatorial campaign conflicts with her current role despite previous secretaries of state — including Benson — administering elections while also running for statewide office.
Senate Minority Leader and Republican candidate for governor Aric Nesbitt of Porter Township led the request for federal elections support in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Pondi Thursday, Nov. 13. The letter says Benson’s gubernatorial bid while serving as secretary of state “creates an inherent and unavoidable conflict of interest” because Benson will help administer an election that will decide her political future.
“Such a situation risks compromising the impartiality required for fair election oversight and demands external federal scrutiny to maintain public trust,” states the letter signed by Nesbitt and 21 other Republican lawmakers.
“We’re blessed to have President Trump and Attorney General Bondi in office, and I’m confident that they can safeguard our elections from any outside or inside interference,” Nesbitt said in a statement.
The letter asks the DOJ to “deploy official election monitors and provide comprehensive oversight for Michigan’s 2026 primary and general elections.” DOJ personnel would be stationed at polling places, absentee ballot processing locations and voter registration sites under the request. The DOJ declined to comment.
Benson Campaign Manager Nikki Goldschein defended Benson’s track record as secretary of state from Republican attacks and blasted the request for federal elections oversight. “Michigan Republicans continue to ignore the facts and instead are choosing to bend the knee to Donald Trump’s well documented efforts to dismantle democracy and push for an illegal takeover of our state’s elections,” she said in a statement.
Past Michigan secretaries of state have run for governor. Fred Warner, a Republican, was the sitting secretary when he ran for governor and won in 1904. Frank Fitzgerald, another Republican, was also serving as secretary of state when he ran for governor and won in 1934. In 1942, Michigan voters elected Republican then-Secretary of State Harry Kelly as their governor. In 1960, James Hare, a Democrat, ran for governor while secretary of state but lost his primary election.
In more recent years, sitting secretaries of state from both parties sought reelection to their posts as chief elections officers without raising widespread concerns of a conflict of interest. Nesbitt did not answer a question from the Detroit Free Press asking whether the Republican leader wanted to see the DOJ involved in overseeing those elections. Instead, he provided a statement characterizing Benson as uniquely unqualified to hold her current job.
Noting that many secretaries of state have run for office while serving in that role, Michigan Department of State spokesperson Angela Benander said in a statement, “Next year’s election will be no different.” She accused Republican lawmakers of “pouring gasoline on our democracy and asking the DOJ to light a match,” saying they have encouraged Trump to “illegally interfere” in Michigan’s elections.
“They are aligning with the administration’s ongoing efforts to manufacture crises in order to justify ongoing federal overreach that puts our citizens’ privacy, safety, and freedoms in danger,” Benander added.
Michigan Republicans’ letter lists oft-repeated Republican complaints about Benson’s tenure as secretary of state going back to the 2020 election, which saw President Donald Trump and his allies sow disinformation as they tried to overturn his loss. Post-election reviews and audits upheld the election outcome that year.
Elections in Michigan are administered by over 1,500 local clerks across the state in the nation’s most decentralized election system. Benandar also noted that Michigan observers from both major political parties and federal monitors regularly have their eyes on elections in the state. Bipartisan county canvassing boards certify the election results and the bipartisan Board of State Canvassers certifies results for statewide offices and those that cross county lines.
Michigan’s race for governor is shaping up to be one to watch nationally. The Cook Political Report — an organization that provides election analysis of key contests — rates Michigan’s gubernatorial election a “Toss Up,” a designation for “the most competitive” races in which “either party has a good chance of winning.” Incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer cannot run again due to term limits.
Staff writer Paul Egan contributed to this report.
Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.