Long before she became Michigan’s chief election officer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson built her career fighting for people whose voices were often ignored. Early on, she worked on voting rights and civil rights issues in Alabama, helping communities navigate barriers to democratic participation in a region where the legacy of voter suppression remained a living reality. (You can see it in person at The Henry Ford’ s newest exhibit – The Jackson Home.) Those experiences shaped a public servant who has consistently viewed democracy as a practical right that must be protected and expanded.
That commitment followed her to Michigan.
As Secretary of State, Benson has overseen the implementation of some of the most significant voting-rights expansions in modern Michigan history. Under her leadership, Michigan implemented automatic voter registration and expanded online voter registration, making participation in democracy easier and more accessible for hundreds of thousands of residents.
She helped administer constitutional changes that gave voters access to no-reason absentee voting, strengthened election administration, and expanded opportunities for participation. During one of the most turbulent periods in modern American politics, she oversaw elections that experienced record turnout while surviving extraordinary pressure, threats, and disinformation campaigns from local, state, and federal supporters of the tyrannical Donald Trump-led White House Administration. More than 250 post-election audits affirmed the accuracy of Michigan’s election results.
But the strongest argument for Benson’s candidacy may be one that receives less attention. Michigan’s next governor will inherit a state confronting profound questions about trust in elections, in public institutions, and in government itself.
Benson has spent much of her career operating precisely where trust breaks down.
Whether advocating for stronger ethics and transparency laws, modernizing government services, protecting voter information from improper disclosure, or defending election systems against political attacks, she has repeatedly placed herself in difficult fights that many politicians would rather avoid.
That’s not to say that she’s infallible. And endorsements are only easy when a candidate’s record is uncomplicated. But leaders are rarely that way, and Benson is no exception.
As the Michigan Chronicle considers the race for governor, the reality is that we can’t ignore that Benson is a candidate carrying both significant accomplishments and significant questions.
Most notably, Benson’s Department of State is currently facing racial discrimination litigation brought by Black current and former employees. The allegations are serious and shouldn’t be dismissed as routine politics or be ignored because the defendant is a Democrat. Benson hasn’t done either of those things.
She’s said that she knows public institutions must be accountable to the people they serve and to the people who work within them. The allegations deserve a full and fair airing in court, and if wrongdoing occurred, it must be addressed. If the claims are unfounded, that should be established through the legal process. Either way, Michigan voters should insist on transparency, and Benson hasn’t shied away from transparency. Michigan voters should expect her to answer those concerns directly and substantively.
Another thing about endorsements is that they’re not judgments on unresolved litigation. Instead, they’re judgments about who is best prepared to lead the state, and Benson has assembled perhaps the strongest resumes of any candidate in the race. After weighing both the accomplishments and the controversies, we believe Benson remains the candidate best prepared to govern.
The office of governor requires executive experience, administrative competence, political courage, and a demonstrated commitment to protecting the rights of all Michiganders. Jocelyn Benson has spent decades building that record from her civil rights work in Alabama to her work as the leader in election administration in Michigan.
The lawsuit deserves scrutiny, but her record deserves recognition.
Taken together, they present voters with a candidate who should be examined carefully, but also one whose career has consistently been devoted to expanding opportunity, protecting democracy, and making government more accessible to the people it serves.
For those reasons, the Michigan Chronicle endorses Jocelyn Benson for Governor of Michigan.
