Michigan Governor
Tue, Nov 3 · Governor Gretchen Whitmer Democratic since Jan 2019 (not a candidate in 2026)
Jocelyn Benson 50.2John James 41.7
Average of 15 polls, Sep 10 to Oct 27, from VoteHub · how it’s calculated
Newest poll
1 is a partisan pollNewest · Mitchell Research & Communications, field dates Oct 26 to Oct 27, released Oct 30, 636 likely votersPoll sponsored by WWJ-TV, WKBD-TVPolls fetched Oct 30, 2:02 a.m. ET, from VoteHub
Show all 5 candidates on the ballot
- Jocelyn BensonDemocraticwith Winnie Brinks
- John JamesRepublicanwith Jay DeBoyer
- Anthony HudsonLibertarianwith Beau Parmenter
- Douglas CampbellGreenwith Bobbie Clay
- Donna BrandenburgOther(U.S. Taxpayers Party)with Robert Donald Cowper II
Showing major-party nominees, incumbents and candidates with 5%+ in the latest poll or comparable fundraising.
Polls over time
25 polls, through Election Day Nov 3The thick line is the 7-week average, not a forecast. How it’s calculated. All polls. Polls fetched Oct 30, 2:02 a.m. ET, from VoteHub.
The polls in this chart (25)
6 polls released in the last 14 days · latest results range from 48.5 to 53.3% (D) and 38.7 to 44.5% (R) (newest 5 polls on the chart)
25 of the 27 polls for this race, each with both names, plotted on the field end date.
| Pollster | Field dates | Released | Sample | Benson | James |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mitchell Research & Communications | Oct 26 to Oct 27 | Oct 30 | 636 likely voters | 49 | 44 |
| CNN/SSRS | Oct 20 to Oct 27 | Oct 29 | 768 likely voters | 53 | 41 |
| Guidant Polling and Strategy | Sep 20 to Oct 27 | Oct 8 | 800 likely voters | 50 | 45 |
| Michigan State University Department of Political Science/Verasight | Oct 8 to Oct 23 | Oct 29 | 1,383 likely voters | 48.5 | 38.7 |
| Glengariff Group, Inc. | Oct 19 to Oct 22 | Oct 27 | 600 likely voters | 51.4 | 44.5 |
| Michigan State University Institute for Public Policy and Social Research/YouGov | Oct 2 to Oct 19 | Oct 27 | 836 likely voters | 53.3 | 40.9 |
| Marist University | Oct 15 to Oct 18 | Oct 21 | — | 51 | 45 |
| Z to A Research | Sep 28 to Oct 1 | Oct 9 | 483 likely voters | 50 | 40 |
| Beacon Research/Shaw & Co. Research | Sep 24 to Sep 28 | Oct 1 | 1,028 likely voters | 54 | 45 |
| co/efficient | Sep 21 to Sep 23 | Sep 24 | 843 likely voters | 47 | 44 |
| The New York Times/Siena University | Sep 15 to Sep 22 | Sep 25 | 605 likely voters | 48 | 43 |
| Cygnal/Beacon Research | Sep 18 to Sep 21 | Sep 29 | 600 likely voters | 45 | 38 |
| Suffolk University | Sep 16 to Sep 20 | Sep 22 | 500 likely voters | 51 | 34 |
| Emerson College | Sep 12 to Sep 14 | Sep 17 | 1,000 likely voters | 48.6 | 41.9 |
| The Washington Post/George Mason University School of Policy and Government | Sep 10 to Sep 14 | Sep 17 | 803 likely voters | 53 | 41 |
| EPIC-MRA | Aug 22 to Aug 28 | Aug 29 | 600 likely voters | 45 | 41 |
| Michigan State University Institute for Public Policy and Social Research/YouGov | Aug 10 to Aug 20 | Sep 1 | 779 likely voters | 52 | 43 |
| Michigan State University Institute for Public Policy and Social Research/YouGov | Aug 10 to Aug 20 | Sep 1 | 913 registered voters | 49 | 39 |
| Fabrizio, Lee & Associates/Impact Research | Aug 9 to Aug 11 | Aug 20 | 877 likely voters | 49 | 44 |
| Beacon Research/Shaw & Co. Research | Aug 6 to Aug 10 | Aug 14 | 1,006 registered voters | 52 | 47 |
| EPIC-MRA | Jul 24 to Jul 31 | Aug 2 | 600 likely voters | 47 | 38 |
| Mitchell Research & Communications | Jul 28 to Jul 29 | Aug 3 | 672 likely voters | 46 | 44 |
| Glengariff Group, Inc. | Jul 22 to Jul 24 | Jul 28 | 600 likely voters | 43.7 | 38.7 |
| TIPP Insights | May 20 to May 23 | Jun 1 | 1,456 registered voters | 46 | 35 |
| TIPP Insights | May 20 to May 23 | Jun 1 | 1,163 likely voters | 49 | 38 |
Polls left off the chart (2 of 27)
| Poll | Why it is not on the chart |
|---|---|
| Mitchell Research & CommunicationsJul 28 to Jul 29 | Names fewer than two candidates on this ballot (lists Jocelyn Benson, Perry Johnson) |
| Glengariff Group, Inc.Jul 22 to Jul 24 | Names fewer than two candidates on this ballot (lists Jocelyn Benson, Perry Johnson) |
Side by side
Left column: BensonRight column: James
- Donor-based spectrum
- LiberalCentristConservativeJamesNo published score for Benson
- Races won and lost
- None on file
- 2-2
- Years since first win on file
- Not available
- 3
- Age on Election Day
- 49
- 45
How these are counted
The spectrum is a published research score, not our rating. How this works. Wins and losses count the races in our results files, the same as each profile.
What changed in this race
Newest firstNEW POLLMichigan Governor
Michigan Governor: Jocelyn Benson 49, John James 44
Mitchell Research & Communications, Oct 26 to Oct 27, 636 likely voters
NEW POLLMichigan Governor
Michigan Governor: Jocelyn Benson 53, John James 41
CNN/SSRS, Oct 20 to Oct 27, 768 likely voters
More about this race
Candidates on the ballot
- Jocelyn BensonDemocraticwith Winnie Brinks
- John JamesRepublicanwith Jay DeBoyer
- Anthony HudsonLibertarianwith Beau Parmenter
- Douglas CampbellGreenwith Bobbie Clay
- Donna BrandenburgOther(U.S. Taxpayers Party)with Robert Donald Cowper II
Source: mi-boe.entellitrak.com, dated Oct 28
Vote in Michigan
- Register
- Registration, polling place, mail ballot status
- Sample ballot lookup, election office
- ID rules
Trouble voting? Election Protection hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE. A nonpartisan coalition of civil-rights and voting-rights groups, not a government service. 866ourvote.org
History (5 elections for this seat)
- Votes for listed candidates
- 4,461,925
- Election day
- November 8, 2022
Governor, Michigan, 2022, every candidate Candidate Party Votes and share Share DemocraticGretchen WhitmerWon(incumbent) Democratic 2,430,50554.5% RepublicanTudor M. Dixon Republican 1,960,63543.9% LibertarianMary Buzuma Libertarian 38,8000.9% OtherDonna Brandenburg US Taxpayers 16,2460.4% GreenKevin Hogan Green 10,7660.2% OtherDaryl M. Simpson Natural Law 4,9730.1% - Votes for listed candidates
- 4,250,585
- Election day
- November 6, 2018
Governor, Michigan, 2018, every candidate Candidate Party Votes and share Share DemocraticGretchen WhitmerWon Democratic 2,266,19353.3% RepublicanBill Schuette Republican 1,859,53443.7% LibertarianBill Gelineau Libertarian 56,6061.3% OtherTodd Schleiger Taxpayers 29,2190.7% GreenJennifer Kurland Green 28,7990.7% OtherKeith Butkovich Natural Law 10,2020.2% Scattered write-ins 320.0% - Votes for listed candidates
- 3,086,456
- Election day
- November 4, 2014
Governor, Michigan, 2014, every candidate Candidate Party Votes and share Share RepublicanRick SnyderWon(incumbent) Republican 1,607,39952.1% DemocraticMark H. Schauer Democratic 1,479,05747.9% - Votes for listed candidates
- 3,226,061
- Election day
- November 2, 2010
Governor, Michigan, 2010, every candidate Candidate Party Votes and share Share RepublicanRick SnyderWon Republican 1,874,83458.1% DemocraticVirg Bernero Democratic 1,287,32039.9% LibertarianKen Proctor Libertarian 22,3900.7% OtherStacey Mathia US Taxpayers 20,8180.6% GreenHarley G. Mikkelson Green 20,6990.6% - Votes for listed candidates
- 3,801,219
- Election day
- November 7, 2006
Governor, Michigan, 2006, every candidate Candidate Party Votes and share Share DemocraticJennifer M. GranholmWon(incumbent) Democratic 2,142,51356.4% RepublicanDick Devos Republican 1,608,08642.3% LibertarianGreg Creswell Libertarian 23,5240.6% GreenDouglas Campbell Green 20,0090.5% OtherBob Dashairya US Taxpayers 7,0870.2%
2006 to 2022: Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder, Candidates in American General Elections, version 3.1 (2006-2023 governor rows), retrieved Oct 28, 2026. Compiled by Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder (Harvard Dataverse) from official returns; not an official source
Governor races before 2006 are not on file.
Data notes (16)
- Source priority per race: (1) a state election office's own certified results parsed in scripts/data/gov_results.py (NJ Division of Elections PDFs, Virginia Department of Elections, the Civera ElectionStats databases run by CT, VA, VT, CO, NY, NM and SC, the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, the NC State Board of Elections archive); (2) the open Cha/Kuriwaki/Snyder 'Candidates in American General Elections' file (Harvard Dataverse, CC0), which copies each state's statement of vote; (3) OpenElections county files and the 2020 Dataverse official-results tables, used only to add named candidates the Dataverse file omitted and to add the write-in count; (4) MEDSL precinct sums, used the same way and only when their Democratic and Republican totals agree with the Dataverse rows to 0.3 percent. Each race's source is listed in web/data/sources/gov-results.json.
- total is the sum of the candidate rows in the file, and pct is votes divided by that total, rounded to one decimal. Blank, void, over and under votes are never in total. Write-in votes are in total as a 'Write-ins' row (writein: true) wherever a source reports them: the official databases, OpenElections, and MEDSL precinct returns. The Dataverse file leaves write-ins out, so MEDSL's write-in sum is added when MEDSL's count for every named candidate equals the Dataverse count exactly (for example AK 2022, 784 write-ins, and AL 2022, 9,432, both matching the state's statement of vote). Each race's source ids are in the race's source and sourceAlso fields and in the gov-results-<st> entry of sources.json.
- 151 races not taken from a state's own results file have no write-in row. Either the state counted no write-ins, or the sources on file leave them out (MEDSL's precinct sums did not match every named candidate exactly, or MEDSL has no file for that year); where they were left out, total is short by the write-ins and pct can run slightly above the state's printed percentage: AK 2006, AK 2010, AK 2014, AL 2006, AL 2010, AL 2014, AL 2018, AR 2006, AR 2014, AR 2018, AR 2022, AZ 2002, AZ 2014, AZ 2022, CA 2014, CA 2018, CA 2022, DE 2008, DE 2012, DE 2016, DE 2020, DE 2024, GA 2014, GA 2018, HI 2006, HI 2010, HI 2014, HI 2018, HI 2022, IA 2006, IA 2010, IA 2014, ID 1998, ID 2006, ID 2010, ID 2022, IL 2010, IL 2014, IL 2018, IN 2004, IN 2008, IN 2012, IN 2016, IN 2020, KS 2006, KS 2010, KS 2014, KS 2018, KS 2022, KY 2007, KY 2011, KY 2015, KY 2019, LA 2007, LA 2011, LA 2015, LA 2019, LA 2023, MD 2006, MD 2014, MD 2022, ME 2006, ME 2010, ME 2014, ME 2022, MI 2006, MI 2010, MI 2014, MI 2022, MN 2006, MN 2010, MN 2014, MO 2020, MS 2007, MS 2011, MS 2015, MS 2019, MS 2023, MT 2000, MT 2004, MT 2008, MT 2012, MT 2016, MT 2020, MT 2024, ND 2008, NE 2006, NE 2010, NE 2014, NE 2018, NE 2022, NH 2008, NH 2010, NH 2012, NH 2014, NH 2024, NM 2010, NV 2006, NV 2010, NV 2014, NV 2018, NV 2022, OH 2014, OH 2018, OK 2006, OK 2010, OK 2014, OK 2018, OK 2022, OR 2006, OR 2010, OR 2014, OR 2018, OR 2022, PA 2002, PA 2006, PA 2010, PA 2014, PA 2018, PA 2022, RI 2006, RI 2010, RI 2014, SC 2006, SD 2006, SD 2010, SD 2014, SD 2018, SD 2022, TX 2014, TX 2018, TX 2022, UT 2008, UT 2010, UT 2012, UT 2020, WA 2008, WA 2012, WA 2016, WI 2006, WI 2010, WI 2014, WI 2018, WV 2008, WV 2011, WV 2012, WV 2016, WV 2020, WV 2024, WY 2002, WY 2006.
- party is D, R, I, L, G, O or N from the party label in the source; party_label keeps the source's wording. The Dataverse file prints short labels (Lbt, Grn, Const, DFL, NPA); those are expanded to Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Democratic-Farmer-Labor and No Party Affiliation. Fusion candidates (NY, CT, SC, and the Democratic-Progressive line in VT) are one candidate with all of their ballot lines added together.
- Names: the Dataverse file stores 'LAST, FIRST MIDDLE (NICKNAME), SUFFIX'; the display name uses the nickname when there is one (Josh Shapiro, Bob Riley) and otherwise the given names. All-caps source names were title-cased by rule and can be wrong for internal capitals (DiGiulio, DeWine). Official lists that print only surnames (NJ 1997; MA tickets from 2010 on) take the full name from the Dataverse row of the same race where the surname and party match, otherwise stay surname-only.
- incumbent is true or false only for races built from the Dataverse file (it carries an incumbency code; code 3, a governor who succeeded to the office, is treated as incumbent). It is null for official-source races and for candidates added from OpenElections or MEDSL.
- Louisiana uses an open primary with a runoff. One race per election is stored: the round that decided it (the October primary when someone won more than 50 percent, otherwise the November runoff, marked runoff:true). Exact dates for those rounds come from the Dataverse/official files where present and are set in the script otherwise (LA_DATES); check them before showing a date.
- Recall elections (Wisconsin June 2012, California September 2021) are not included. Only regular and special general elections for the office are stored; primaries and runoff primaries are not.
- scripts/data/federal_results.py, if it is re-run, rewrites every web/data/results/governor/{ST}.json to []. Run scripts/data/gov_results.py after it, or remove build_governor() from that script.
- MI: No governor general-election result in this file for 4 of 9 expected election years between 1990 and 2025: 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002. No open or official bulk source was found and parsed for them yet; they are gaps, not zeroes.
- 2006: built from the Dataverse candidates file only; no second source agreed with it at candidate level, so a minor-party candidate who is missing from that file would be missing here too
- 2010: built from the Dataverse candidates file only; no second source agreed with it at candidate level, so a minor-party candidate who is missing from that file would be missing here too
- 2014: built from the Dataverse candidates file only; no second source agreed with it at candidate level, so a minor-party candidate who is missing from that file would be missing here too
- Candidate name is the sitting governor's officials-file spelling for 16 rows (the race's winner, same state, race within the governor's tenure, same surname and a compatible first name). Text encoding and casing are repaired by scripts/data/names.py.
- Governor races earlier than the first year listed are not loaded yet for 50 states (AK from 2006; AL from 2006; AR from 2002; AZ from 2002; CA from 2002; CO from 1990; CT from 1990; DE from 2008; FL from 1990; GA from 2002; HI from 2006; IA from 2002; ID from 1994; IL from 2006; IN from 2004; KS from 2006; KY from 2007; LA from 2007; MA from 1990; MD from 2006; ME from 2006; MI from 2006; MN from 2006; MO from 2008; MS from 2007; MT from 2000; NC from 1992; ND from 2008; NE from 2006; NH from 2006; NJ from 1993; NM from 2002; NV from 2006; NY from 1994; OH from 2002; OK from 2006; OR from 2006; PA from 2002; RI from 2006; SC from 2006; SD from 2006; TN from 2002; TX from 1994; UT from 2008; VA from 1993; VT from 1990; WA from 2008; WI from 2006; WV from 2000; WY from 2002). The sources on file start later; nothing was filled in from memory. Each governor page says so under History.
- 1 duplicate candidate rows merged: a 0-vote placeholder row beside the real row is dropped. governor/CO 2022 Paul Noël Fiorino
Download and cite
Cite this page
Election Wrld. (2026). Governor of Michigan. https://www.electionwrld.com/mi/governor. Retrieved October 30, 2026.
Sources
Sources: Wikidata SPARQL (governor position holders, party) (CC0-1.0), retrieved Oct 28, 2026, compiled by the Wikidata community (not an official source; to be cross-checked against official governor pages) from official returns, not an official source; 3 U.S.C. 1, 2 U.S.C. 1 and 7: Election Day, first Tuesday after the first Monday in November (US government work, public domain), retrieved Oct 28, 2026; Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder, Candidates in American General Elections, version 3.1 (2006-2023 governor rows) (CC0 1.0), retrieved Oct 28, 2026, compiled by Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder (Harvard Dataverse) from official returns, not an official source; Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder, Candidates in American General Elections, version 4.1 (2024 governor rows) (CC0 1.0), retrieved Oct 28, 2026, compiled by Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder (Harvard Dataverse) from official returns, not an official source; OpenElections state results repositories (github.com/openelections/openelections-data-<st>) (No license is stated in the OpenElections repositories. OpenElections says its data is free for anyone to use. Written permission requested (docs/PERMISSION-REQUESTS.md). No CC0 claim.), retrieved Oct 28, 2026, compiled by OpenElections volunteers from official returns, not an official source.
DataState data (JSON)Sources: Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder, Candidates in American General Elections, version 3.1 (2006-2023 governor rows), VoteHub polls (CC BY 4.0), DIME (ODC-BY), Portraits: unitedstates/images (public domain), Photo creditsData as of Oct 28, 2026