Folks, we did it. We survived the two-year long primary to determine which candidates will face off in the November to become Michigan’s next governor.
You had an hour to relax, between roughly 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Tuesday night.
Now, I welcome you to the general election. Over the next 90 days, we are going to see unprecedented levels of advertising, visits from politicians and celebrities, and of course the ever-present knocks on your front door.
While the Democrats’ race for the U.S. Senate nomination has been turned, by many, into the most glamorous race of the cycle, those of us who call Michigan home will feel the impact of the governor’s race a whole lot more.
Democrat Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s current Secretary of State, and Republican John James, who represents a Macomb County district in Congress, have been running relatively quiet campaigns.
Benson faced Genesee County sheriff Chris Swanson in the primary, but spent virtually no money and trounced him with 84% of the vote to his 16%. James was poked and prodded by West Bloomfield businessman Perry Johnson, but emerged from the primary with only a few bruises, and a decisive win of 50% to 35%, with the remainder of the vote going to candidates who left the race after President Donald Trump endorsed James.
Now, both Benson and James have to set their sights on winning in the fall.
Moderates in an extreme world
Neither James nor Benson are firebrands ‒ and now, post-primary, what are their political paths forward to victory?
The standard approach for candidates in the general election is to slide to the center. Soften the way you approach weighty issues, work to show your bipartisan chops, try not to make any major waves and bring the independent voters to your side.
But in 2026, is that the way forward? Here in Michigan, and across the country, we are more and more polarized and driven by tribalism. Is softening in the general election still an option? Will it work? Or will it cost candidates the grassroots support they need to make it across the finish line?
Right now, the branch of the Democratic party that lies to the furthest extremes has more control than the average voter. We can see that in the results of the Senate Democratic primary, as well as the 13th Congressional district and a handful of state legislative races ‒ when given options, the voters in Democratic primaries went for the option furthest to the left ‒ or, as in the 7th Congressional district, couldn’t coalesce around a more moderate candidate, and split the vote.
What does that mean for a more-moderate Jocelyn Benson? We’re about to find out. How will moderate and less engaged voters view her when she is tied to near-socialist Abdul El-Sayed, the winner of the Democratic Senate primary, on the ballot? Democrats have momentum and are angrier than they have been in years about the state of the country, but will they vote for a candidate like Benson, who some call an “establishment Democrat”?
The GOP’s unpopularity contest
On the Republican side, John James embraced President Donald Trump, recently welcoming the president to Milford and taking it to the bank in the primary.
But Trump’s approval rating is dropping in Michigan ‒ and nationally. Will James continue to embrace Trump’s policies? Or does he put some air between himself and the term-limited POTUS?
Historically, Michigan alternates Democrat and Republican in the governor’s office every eight years. We also generally vote for the party that doesn’t hold the White House. In this case, those two traditions cancel each other out. So, we are back at square one, with this being anyone’s race to win or lose ‒ no historical or statistical advantage based on history.
It’s going to be a wild ride over the next 90 days, but we’ll make it through. Democracy can be a bumpy road, but we’re in it together.
Free Press contributing columnist Andrea Bitely is the founder and principal of Bitely Communications, a Lansing-based public affairs firm specializing in political, corporate and crisis communications. From September 2025 through May 2026, she served as director of communications for former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s now-ended independent gubernatorial campaign.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Expect John James, Jocelyn Benson to slide to the center | Opinion
Reporting by Andrea Bitely, Contributing columnist / Detroit Free Press
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By Andrea Bitely, Contributing columnist | USA TODAY Network
