Garlin Gilchrist II, currently lietenant governor to Gretchen Whitmer, will be running for Secretary of State, instead of the governor position he had been seeking. (Photo by Kyle Davidson)

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist’s bid to replace Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has come to an end, but he’s setting his sights, instead, on becoming the Democratic Party’s nominee for secretary of state.

Gilchrist announced that he was bowing out of the gubernatorial hunt in a video released Monday morning, which also served as his launching pad to seek the office that oversees the state’s elections and some of its key administrative operations.

It was rumored for weeks that Gilchrist would end up dropping out of the gubernatorial race. He faced an uphill battle as the No. 2 name in that race, with Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in pole position both in terms of Democratic enthusiasm and money raised.

Democratic sources told Michigan Advance last week that a change of pace was coming soon for Gilchrist. As those rumors swirled, Bridge Detroit reported on Sunday that Gilchrist was making calls to Democratic officials about his change of candidacy.

On Monday morning, he made his intentions to seek the secretary of state position known.

“At heart, I’m a public servant, an entrepreneur, a dad, a husband, and an engineer who spent a lot of my life making government actually work for people,” Gilchrist said in a campaign video. “I’m not done with that, not by a long shot. You’ve told your stories about the high cost of everything and the threats to our democracy. You sounded the alarm about this president who acts like a king. And you know Michigan has been ground zero in the battle for free and fair elections before, and it will be again. This tangled web of corruption and control is meant to crush our power to participate. We have to fix this. If we don’t, we can’t fix anything else.”

Gilchrist said those issues compelled him to join the secretary of state race. He thanked those who supported him in his bid for governor, a race that has now become a two-person contest between Benson and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson.

“The time for me to serve in that role may come, but now is not that time,” Gilchrist said of his gubernatorial race before turning to the secretary race. “As Secretary of State, I will shine a light on dark money and put the public first. I will modernize licensing and registration by providing smart, 21st-century service. I’ll protect your privacy and never allow your identity, voter registration information, or license plate data to be mined by big tech companies or surveilled by the Trump administration. And I will hold accountable companies that rip you off when you get your car fixed.”

Gilchrist went on to say that the problem with politics, as he sees it, is that “it’s rigged toward the people with the most wealth.”

“They want us to give up, and check out. But we won’t,” Gilchrist said. “Our right to vote gives each of us an equal voice in our future. We can’t let anyone take that right away.”

Swanson issued a statement later Monday morning, saying he had called Gilchrist and thanked him for running a “strong campaign based on the issues that are vital to the people of Michigan,” and wished him well in his race to become secretary of state. Swanson then said his campaign for governor is picking up steam.

“Everywhere I go, people are hungry for change. They are looking for people who can relate to their struggles and bring ideas that will help them live better lives. They want a government that works for everyone, not just the few at the top,” Swanson said. “Everything is too expensive and it’s only getting worse. That’s why we need to elect working class champions who will stand up and fight for Michigan’s people. I am that working class candidate and I am ready to help us write a new chapter in Michigan’s history. Let’s go!”

The pros and cons of Gilchrist repositioning to the secretary of state race

In switching gears to try and become secretary of state, Gilchrist won’t have to collect nominating petition signatures to appear on the ballot or go through the primary process to seek the Democratic Party nomination. Those candidates are, however, selected at the party’s convention following the August primary. That means a potentially easier path to the nomination, but only if Gilchrist is playing to win and has support from the state’s big-name unions, like United Auto Workers, which largely decide the Democratic nominations later in the summer.

Gilchrist’s campaign believes that it can galvanize that support.

But the race is already crowded and the lieutenant governor faces a deeper slate of competition than he did against Benson and Swanson. The party’s use of an earlier endorsement convention in the spring to rally support around the most likely candidate to win — based on enthusiasm but also organizing strength for general election fight — also means that Gilchrist has to get moving.

Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum, Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie, former state Sen. Adam Hollier and former Michigan State Lottery Commissioner Suzanna Shkreli are also seeking the nomination. Hollier and Shkreli only recently entered the race, but Byrum and Edevbie have been in the hunt since mid-2025.

Shkreli started trying to stake out deeper ground in the race on Sunday by exoling how she’s gained momentum fast after being in the race only a month, and by also taking a jab at Gilchrist as he enters the fray.

“This office and protecting our vote is too important to be a consolation prize, and I am the best candidate to hold this seat come November,” Shkreli said in a statement. “With my experience as a prosecutor and in the Governor’s administration, I bring the grit and toughness to stand up to extremists and protect the votes and voices of Michiganders no matter what comes our way.”