Jocelyn Benson

Jocelyn Benson earned a bachelor's degree from Wellesley College, a master's degree from the University of Oxford and a law degree from Harvard Law School. She clerked for Judge Damon J. Keith in Detroit. At Wayne State University Law School she was an associate professor and associate director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights before serving as the school's dean, appointed at age 36. She founded the Levin Center at Wayne Law with former U.S. Senator Carl Levin. Before her election she was chief executive of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality. She wrote State Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process. She was elected Michigan Secretary of State in 2018 and took office in 2019; she is term-limited in 2026. On August 4, 2026 she won the Democratic primary for governor over Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson, and she faces Republican nominee John James, who defeated Perry Johnson in his primary, on November 3. Governor Gretchen Whitmer is term-limited.