Honigman Capitol Report: Post-Election Issue

Michigan Election Results 2026

Governor/Secretary of State/Attorney General

Democrats won all three of Michigan’s top statewide offices Tuesday. In the governor’s race, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson defeated Republican U.S. Rep. John James to succeed term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Benson is the first Democrat elected to succeed another Democratic governor since John Swainson followed G. Mennen Williams in 1960. The gubernatorial contest attracted significantly less attention and money than the U.S. Senate race. About $63 million had been spent entering the final week, compared with roughly a quarter of a billion dollars in the Senate contest. Lower campaign costs and Benson’s efforts to link James to President Donald Trump, who is unpopular in Michigan, emerged as central themes. Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit narrowly defeated Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd in the attorney general’s race. Savit will succeed term-limited Attorney General Dana Nessel. The campaign focused on the candidates’ records as county prosecutors and highlighted sharp differences over gun laws and Nessel’s litigation against Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline. In the secretary of state’s race, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II defeated Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini to become Michigan’s 44th secretary of state. Gilchrist is projected to have received about 55% of the vote, with support from the Detroit Regional Chamber, the Traverse Connect PAC, and numerous unions and progressive groups. He campaigned on strengthening data protections at the Department of State and developing digital IDs.

U.S. Senate

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed defeated Republican Mike Rogers for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, retaining retiring Senator Gary Peters’s seat for Democrats. El-Sayed will become Michigan’s first Muslim senator and join a new Democratic Senate majority. The campaign drew $383 million in advertising and focused heavily on affordability, healthcare, corporate influence and El-Sayed’s progressive positions. El-Sayed narrowly won the Democratic primary over Representative Haley Stevens, but Stevens withdrew her endorsement shortly before the election and endorsed Rogers. El-Sayed’s campaign emphasized Medicare for All, reducing powerful interests’ influence, and economic concerns, while portraying Rogers as aligned with President Donald Trump.

U.S. House

Democrats flipped two Michigan U.S. House seats, the 7th and the 10th, expanding their delegation to nine members and cutting the Republican delegation to five, its lowest number since 1884. In the 7th District, William Lawrence, a 36-year-old progressive activist, ousted U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett after one term, helped by a grassroots network and $34 million in mostly outside spending. In the open 10th District in Macomb County, Christina Hines, a former assistant prosecutor, defeated Michael Bouchard, the Trump-backed Army veteran and son of the Oakland County Sheriff. Republicans held the 1st District, where U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman won a sixth term despite a late Democratic push behind Callie Barr. The 4th District race between U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga and state Sen. Sean McCann remains too close to call. Elsewhere, Democrats Hillary Scholten, Debbie Dingell, Kristen McDonald Rivet, Rashida Tlaib, Jeremy Moss and Donavan McKinney won, with Moss and McKinney winning their first terms in Congress. Republicans John Moolenaar, Tim Walberg and Lisa McClain also won re-election.

State Legislature

House: Democrats won back control of the House with a 63-47 majority, gaining 11 seats overall and unseating 10 Republican incumbents, their largest gain since 2008. Republicans held a few extremely close seats, including Speaker Matt Hall in the 42nd and Rep. James DeSana in the 29th. Key flips include:

• 27th: Jaime Churches (D) defeated Rep. Rylee Linting (R)
• 28th: Sherry Berecz (D) defeated Rep. Jamie Thompson (R)
• 44th: Jim Haadsma (D) defeated Rep. Steve Frisbie (R) ($6.2 million in ad spending)
• 46th: Jan Maino (D) defeated Rep. Kathy Schmaltz (R), 54% to 46%
• 54th: Sarah Pounds (D) defeated Roman Gaskey (R), 53% to 47%, in the open seat held by Rep. Donni Steele (R)
• 55th: Alex Hawkins (D) defeated Rep. Mark Tisdel (R), 52% to 48%
• 57th: Tom Turner (D) defeated General Government chair Tom Kuhn (R)
• 58th: Katrina Manetta (D) defeated Military and Veterans Affairs chair Ron Robinson (R)
• 68th: Matt Schlinker (D) defeated Natural Resources and Tourism chair David Martin (R)
• 86th: Joseph McClusky (D) defeated Rep. Nancy DeBoer (R)
• 109th: Anna Rink (D) defeated Rep. Karl Bohnak (R)

Senate: Senate Democrats picked up three seats, giving them a 23-15 majority for the 2027-28 term. Democrats also kept the redrawn 13th district, where Sean Carlson defeated former Rep. Ryan Berman. Swing-seat Sen. Kevin Hertel won the 12th over John Goldwater, Sen. Chedrick Greene won a full term in the 35th, and Sen. Darrin Camilleri held the 4th while positioning himself to become the next Senate majority leader. Republicans' biggest wins were Rep. Dave Prestin, who took the open 38th district in the Upper Peninsula, and Sen. John Damoose, who won a second term in the 37th with 55% of the vote. Key flips include:

• 32nd: Rebecca Amidon (D) defeated Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole (R) in the open seat of term-limited Sen. Jon Bumstead (R), in a district President Trump carried in 2024
• 30th: Rep. Carol Glanville (D) ousted Sen. Mark Huizenga (R)
• 9th: Theresa Brooks (D) defeated Sen. Michael Webber (R)

Ballot Proposals

Michigan voters rejected Proposal 1, the constitutional-convention question, with approximately 75% opposed, marking its fourth consecutive defeat since adoption of the current Michigan Constitution in 1963. By contrast, Proposal 2 passed with approximately 84% support, imposing new restrictions on political contributions by regulated utilities, certain government contractors, and associated individuals, while expanding disclosure requirements for online and streaming political advertisements. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy subsequently filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel, alleging that Proposal 2 violates free-speech and privacy rights by broadly regulating public-policy communications and requiring organizations to disclose information about financial supporters. A copy of the Complaint can be found here.

In Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, residents voted to renew the Detroit Zoo millage by an average of 70 percent. The millage was first approved in 2008. Renewing the millage will help the zoo care for more than 2,000 animals, fund educational opportunities and maintain the Belle Isle Nature Center.

Looking Ahead

While the aftermath of the “blue tsunami” will develop over the coming weeks and months, there are a few things that we can say at this early stage. First, expect the incoming Democratic trifecta to attempt moving quickly on a limited set of priorities in the first quarter of next year. Unlike 2020, yesterday’s electoral success for Democrats was not preceded by decades of consistent Republican dominance in the Michigan legislature. While Michigan voters swung between the Biden and Trump elections, the state legislature has fluctuated to a greater degree. Expect incoming leadership to frontload a select set of priorities in hopes of harnessing the current blue wave before it risks subsiding, including housing. While expansive majorities in the House and Senate should increase the ease of obtaining majority votes, party factions can be quick to form - and extremely difficult to manage. We expect Democrats will be generally inclined to wait out the remainder of the year with the House under Republican control and try to press their advantage in early 2027 before political winds change course.