LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – Jocelyn Benson secured the Democratic nomination for Michigan governor Tuesday night, capping months of campaigning with an appearance before a packed room of supporters in Detroit.
Benson described her own path to the crowd in personal terms, calling herself “the daughter of public school teachers, the wife of a combat veteran, and a mom of a 10-year-old little boy whose future will be shaped by what we do now, together.”
Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield introduced Benson by pointing back to her early law clerkship under the late federal judge Damon Keith, telling the crowd Keith’s belief that “democracies die behind closed doors” shaped how Benson has approached public service since. Sheffield also referenced a frequent talking point on the trail Tuesday night, telling the crowd Benson has “completed over 30 marathons, including one while she was eight months pregnant.”
That detail, while good for a laugh on stage, sits alongside a professional record built well before Benson entered politics. She holds a law degree from Harvard and spent four years as dean of Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, a job that made her, at 36, the youngest woman in U.S. history to lead a top-100 accredited law school.
Among those in the crowd Tuesday night was Sumaiya Ahmed Sheikh, a West Bloomfield resident who agreed to speak with WZMQ 19 News at the watch party. Sheikh, a 34-year-old mother of three, said affordability is what drove her to the polls this year.
“How am I going to ensure that Michigan is going to work for myself and for them?” she said. She pointed to Benson’s record on voter access and on wait times at the Secretary of State’s branch offices as evidence that Benson is “ready to do the hard things” as governor.
When asked about the wave of anti-establishment sentiment shaping races nationally this year, Sheikh said she doesn’t see it working against Benson, saying Benson “creates opportunities to sit down, listen, to learn about what she doesn’t know” rather than assuming she has all the answers.
Labor groups were also present in the room. Eleanor Campbell, a vice president with SEIU Healthcare Michigan, told the crowd her union backed Benson “because we understand that she knows the needs of working people.” Ron Bieber, president of the Michigan AFL-CIO, said the state’s labor movement has “rallied behind Jocelyn Benson” because “Jocelyn Benson has been a trusted partner in this work for years.”
State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who ended her U.S. Senate campaign earlier this year, told the crowd she’s spent recent months hearing similar frustrations across the state. “I’ve spent the last year and a half traveling the state,” she said. “People tell me, ‘Mallory, I did everything right, and I’m still getting screwed.'”
The morning after her win, Benson picked up a formal endorsement from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at a separate event.
Whitmer, who cannot seek re-election because of term limits, told supporters Michigan needs “someone who will wake up every day and work her tail off to cut costs and put more money in your pocket.” She also took direct aim at James, arguing that when “party bosses or the DeVos donors demand a vote to cut health care or to raise prices on working families,”
James “folds like a lawn chair.” Kendall Essenmacher, a middle school social studies teacher from Ingham County who introduced Whitmer at the event, said she supports Benson in part because Benson is a former teacher herself, adding, “I think we’re past time to have a teacher in the governor’s office.”
James, who defeated businessman Perry Johnson for the Republican nomination Tuesday night, offered a sharply different assessment of the state’s direction in his own victory speech. “Michigan now ranks 46th out of 50 states overall,” James told supporters. “We rank 45th in education, 43rd in our economy, 42nd in our infrastructure.”
He argued responsibility for that record belongs to Lansing, not Washington, saying “the president’s occupied the White House for less than half the time that Benson’s held power in Lansing.” James also linked Benson to the more progressive wing of her party, saying she’s “teaming up with Abdul El Sayed, the Midwest Mamdani, to impose a socialist agenda.”
Benson, for her part, closed her own victory speech by framing the fall campaign as a choice over “who does your governor work for, what does she stand for, and who does she fight for.”
Both campaigns now turn to a general election that both parties describe as one of the most closely watched governor’s races in the country, with control of the state House and Senate also on this fall’s ballot.
