Michigan election chief Jocelyn Benson to face prominent election denier in governor’s race

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a critical opponent of President Donald Trump’s anti-voting agenda, won the Democratic nomination Tuesday to be the state’s next governor. 

Now, she’ll face off against a Republican who opposes virtually everything she stands for.

Rep. John James (R), the GOP candidate for governor, has Trump’s endorsement and a long history of promoting false claims and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. He’s even personally blamed Benson for his loss in the 2020 U.S. Senate race.

If elected this November, James has vowed to carry out the president’s anti-voting agenda in a pivotal battleground state.

As a result, the outcome could have significant implications for the 2028 presidential race.

Benson, who has served as Michigan’s elections chief since 2019, came to national prominence when she vehemently pushed back against Trump’s repeated false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. Trump attacked Benson’s efforts to expand mail voting in that election, calling her a “rogue secretary of state” and threatening to withhold crucial federal funds to Michigan. 

After Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, Michigan — and, specifically, Benson — became a focal point in right-wing conspiracy theories alleging mass voter fraud. In December 2020, armed protesters swarmed Benson’s home demanding she overturn the election results to declare Trump the winner. 

“The demands outside my house were unambiguous, loud and threatening,” Benson said in the aftermath of the incident. “They targeted me in my role as Michigan’s Chief Election Officer. But the threats of those gathered weren’t actually aimed at me — or any other elected officials in this state. They were aimed at the voters.” 

Since then, Benson has been a frequent target of election deniers and anti-voting activists, who falsely accused her of perpetuating voter fraud during subsequent elections in the Great Lakes State. Over the past several years, Republican state lawmakers have voted to hold Benson in contempt and unsuccessfully tried to impeach her over debunked election conspiracies. 

Rep. Matt Koleszar (D), a four-term Michigan lawmaker, believes it’s “no coincidence” Trump-aligned Republicans are directing “targeted outrage” against Benson as she runs for governor.

“I really do feel that that’s a coordinated attempt to discredit her,” he told Democracy Docket last year. “Because the truth is, when you look at what Secretary Benson has done, Michigan is ranked second in the country in terms of election processes.”

Since Trump’s return to the White House, Benson has been one of the leading state election chiefs pushing back against his administration’s anti-voting agenda. Benson refused to hand over Michigan’s sensitive voter registration data after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) demanded access to state voter rolls. The DOJ sued Benson, as part of its nationwide voter roll grab, but both a federal judge and an appeals court panel rejected the department’s bid to access Michigan voters’ personal data. 

James, meanwhile, has spent the last six years pushing Trump’s false claims of election fraud. James lost his 2020 U.S. Senate election to Sen. Gary Peters (D). In the aftermath of the 2020 election, he said in an interview that it was “rigged” and then went after Benson. 

“This is the same woman who lied to us, lied to us, and said that we have the safest and most secure election,” James said. “We know in 2020 she rigged and manipulated the election process to defeat me and President Trump.”

In a rally with Trump last month, James falsely claimed that Trump “won” Michigan three times. In reality, Trump lost the state to Biden by nearly three percentage points. 

James has also made Trump’s anti-voting agenda a priority in his campaign, promising to work with the state legislature to impose proof-of-citizenship requirements, enact a voter ID law, audit Michigan’s voter rolls, and investigate Benson.