Dear 2026 Michigan Candidates for Governor:
In January, I wrote an open letter to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer after she said she would take her State of the State messaging on the road. My request was simple: be candid, listen to all and meet the people where they are.
Now, it is your turn.
In just a few months, Michigan will choose one of you as its next governor. Republican voters have a few choices, and President Donald Trump’s endorsement has elevated U.S. Rep. John James among them. Democrats appear to be marshalling behind Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
Independence Day has historically marked the kick-up of the campaign season leading up to November, as fall lurks around the corner. Soon, all of you will make your way to county fairs, diners, VFW halls and factory floors giving carefully rehearsed speeches.
Before you do, I would like to offer this reminder.
Those whose lives do not revolve around the state’s urban centers don’t need another photo opportunity. They need a governor who will lead with integrity, truth and – I hope – civility.
Affordability. You may be tired of hearing this by now, but this is what we all worry about. Michiganders, like all Americans, see their paycheck shrinking in the face of rising prices and we need relief.
Aspirants from both parties have discussed lowering taxes and growing jobs. We have heard that before. What else?
Michiganders are talking less about ideology than about paying for housing, childcare, gas and prescription drugs.
Young families wonder if they will have to wait until they are 40 – now the national median age of the first-time homebuyer in United States — before they can afford to purchase a home, and older residents wonder if they can afford to retire. Farmers wonder if another year of rising costs to field a crop will allow them to break even.
If affordability is your top priority, tell us specifically how life gets easier under your administration for a family living in Hillsdale, Charlevoix, or Monroe, not just Birmingham or Ann Arbor.
Rural health care is reaching a breaking point. Hospital services continue to disappear. Mental health providers remain in short supply, and health care coverage is threatening to fail those who need it most. Expectant mothers often drive farther than they should for obstetrical care. Communities spend months trying to recruit a single physician. These are not abstract policy debates. These are life and death realities.
Stop treating education like a culture war. Thankfully, the state legislature just passed a $22.9 billion education bill that invests in literacy and supports at-risk learners. But there is a reason why education quality in Michigan has dropped like a brick. We have failed our kids and treated education like a culture war rather than a ticket to a better life. Michigan’s children cannot afford another decade of political arguments while reading and math scores lag behind much of the country.
Be an advocate for good neighborhood schools and support teachers with better pay and greater respect for what they do as the front-line guardians of our kids. Students need an education that will prepare them for work and life, whether that looks like military service, a skilled craftsman or a college student,
Agriculture deserves more than applause every four years. This spring, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins invited farmers to Lansing to announce $275 million in the form of block grants and specialty crop research, particularly those growing Michigan’s signature crops like cherries and asparagus.
While we appreciate the secretary’s visit as the grand gesture it was, it does remind me of every election season. Politicians for years have been using farmers as political background noise. They put on dusty boots, farm clothes, spend time with livestock, tour barns and then four years later they do it all over again.
Michigan agriculture deserves more than an obligatory visit every campaign season.
It deserves long-term policies that help family farms survive, protect productive farmland and expand markets to ensure the next generation sees agriculture as a future worth fighting for.
Don’t govern from Lansing. While it is tempting in today’s digital world to govern through social media, it’s not the best way to win friends and influence people. Tactile is the new touchscreen and no one enjoys being outdoors more than pure Michiganders. So, get out there and get among the people!
Hold cabinet meetings in rural counties. Visit communities when real life is happening, not just during a crisis like a big winter storm or a dam threatening to burst. Town Hall meetings are tried and true. Do more of them. Make the people feel seen. The best political leaders understand that governing begins with listening.
One final request. Over the next four months you will spend millions telling us why your opponent is a vegan who does not like puppies and is in fact – pro-mosquito. Or scaring us half to death with a TV commercial of a woman whose car has become immobilized and a dastardly monster-man on his way to attack her. Or driving a tractor through a room where a likeness of Gov. Whitmer is standing and then rocking out on said tractor catching Big Air on a dusty road.
Do not bring that same energy to small-town Michigan. Such messaging and imagery have nothing to do with governing.
And people are getting tired of this nonsense, regardless of what spinmeisters advise.
Honesty and plainspokenness trumps fear and hyperbole every time.
As Ottawa County Republican Party Vice Chair Barb VanSyckel told me a few months ago, “Nobody has a fair, honest debate anymore. Why do you believe what you believe? (Where is) critical thinking? It’s all emotion.”
Future governor, we’d like to see you visit citizens at their dining room table, in a local coffee shop, in fire stations and on the town square. Listen to them. Let us know you heard them and tell us about your long-term plan to make life better for the nurse working two shifts, the factory worker with the long commute struggling to pay for gas or the couple looking for a break to buy their first home.
And when you consider visiting rural Michigan, just stay back if you are going to treat us like your personal green screen.
We matter more. The firefighter matters. The early education teacher matters. The farmer matters. And the recent high school graduate looking to go to work or to college matters. The F-4 tornado victims waiting for funds to help them repair their lives matters.
Rural Michiganders are not asking for a rescue. They just need reassurance you will hear them and will use the powerful levers of public policy to make their lives better.
Byron McCauley is a regional columnist for USA Today Co. Email bmccauley@usatodayco.com; call him at (513) 504-8915.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Dear Future Gov: be honest, ethical and engaging to voters | Opinion
Reporting by Byron McCauley, Holland Sentinel / The Holland Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Byron McCauley, Holland Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
