Gilchrist Endorsement Blitz Shows Strength In Late-Game Bid To Be Michigan's Next Secretary Of State

Michigan Advance

January 26, 2026

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist only entered the race for Secretary of State two weeks ago. In that time, key Democrats have been rallying around him, showing off the type of organizing and bridge-building strength he’ll certainly need to get over the edge with delegates at the party’s spring endorsement convention.

Gilchrist left the gubernatorial race on Jan. 12, citing his intention to play a bigger role against threats from President Donald Trump and federal officials to meddle in upcoming elections, and broader threats to democracy that have faced the state and nation.

That said, Gilchrist was running second fiddle to current Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who remains the frontrunner in the governor’s race and now only faces Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson in the upcoming August primary.

Gilchrist’s entrance into the Democratic secretary of state contest, which is heavily influenced by the state’s powerful unions and interest groups at the party’s spring and summer conventions, immediately pushed another candidate, Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie, out of the race. Edevbie has since endorsed Gilchrist.

The race is now between Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum, former state Sen. Adam Hollier of Detroit, and former Michigan State Lottery Commissioner Suzanna Shkreli.

On Thursday, Gilchrist unloaded a fresh round of endorsements that included more than 40 public officials, congressional districts and union groups.

Adrian Hemond, CEO of the Grassroots Midwest consulting firm, told Michigan Advance on Friday that Gilchrist has had a pretty impressive showing right out of the gate.

“Obviously, this is a way different sort of race than a statewide primary election, because the electorate is just whoever shows up at convention and has voting rights,” Hemond said. “But endorsements matter much more in this race than they do in a statewide primary. … They matter a lot at convention because a lot of organizations that can endorse have the ability to move their members, and a lot of elected officials who endorse have reach with some of the groups who are going to show on the convention floor.”

Hemond said that Gilchrist’s new round of endorsements also show that his bid for secretary of state is already going better than his year of running for governor thus far, and that’s likely why he made the switch.

Gilchrist, during his gubernatorial bid, carved out a space for himself as one of the only gubernatorial candidates to decisively support the Palestinian freedom movement and call Israel’s war on Gaza a genocide. He also said he would not accept money from the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. The lieutenant governor made that pronouncement last summer at the annual American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee national convention in Dearborn.

That stance and others, like his strong union support and his championing of the state’s Clean Slate expungement program, earned him the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), who has been a leading voice for Palestinian freedom during her time in Congress.

Soon after Gilchrist dropped from the gubernatorial hunt and entered the race for secretary of state, he appeared at a candidate forum hosted by the Michigan Democratic Party’s Jewish Caucus. There, he apologized for how those remarks may have been perceived as antisemitic, although his campaign later clarified that he was not retracting his previous statements on Gaza.

Gilchrist also noted that he met with the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee.

Despite those statements, it appears that Tlaib is still on board with Gilchrist’s campaign for secretary of state, as she is listed among his new supporters list released Thursday. The list also includes Dearborn Mayor Adbullah Hammoud, an unabashed supporter of Palestinian rights and a strong critic of the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Michigan Advance attempted to interview Tlaib for this story prior to Gilchrist’s new slate of endorsements, in hopes to better understand where she stood now with the lieutenant governor now that he was out of the governor’s race and after comments at the party-hosted forum.

Tlaib’s communications office did not respond to numerous text messages or phone calls seeking an interview with the congresswoman.

Hemond said Gilchrist’s maneuvering on Gaza and Israel — admitting where he might have been wrong in some respects with moderate Democrats while still sticking to his guns on a previously stated ideological position that’s important to progressives — speaks to his effectiveness as a politician within the Democratic coalition.

“Ultimately, he’s got to take his case to the general electorate, but winning these convention fights requires a different sort of politics, and he appears to have some aptitude at that,” Hemond said.

Gilchrist gaining traction so late in the game and at an accelerated rate may be tripping alarm bells for the likes of Byrum, Hollier and Shkreli, the latter of whom also joined the race fairly late into the cycle.

Hemond expects that at least one or two of the candidates who are not Garlin Gilchrist to leave the race by the time the party holds its early endorsement convention in the spring.

“I think Gilchrist will do well at the convention, whether he wins or not,” Hemond said. “I think it depends, to some extent, on who else is in the race. I don’t expect this to go to a vote between three candidates. It’ll be a vote between two candidates, if it’s not a coronation.”

Hemond expects at least one of them to be Gilchrist, and whoever his opponent is in the final stretch.

If that person is Byrum, his momentum certainly puts pressure on her, but Hemond called Byrum a brand-name candidate due to her family history in politics and ties to organized labor.

It also puts pressure on Hollier if he’s still standing on the eve of the convention, as the party would then have two prominent Black politicians from Detroit running for the same spot, although Hollier has been working to reach out statewide for support.

Shkreli, meanwhile, has also been making the rounds of Democratic constituent groups in her bid to be the party’s nominee.

In the case of Byrum, the former lawmaker and current Ingham clerk has been in the race since last spring, and is potentially the most qualified person in the hunt for the nomination. Deep-bench qualifications, however, don’t necessarily mean an easy or expected path to victory when the nomination is decided by party fixtures and not average voters.

In an interview with the Advance, Byrum said Friday that she remains the candidate with most experience doing the job she’s campaigning for, and with the kind of early endorsements that still matter — several unions and many local clerks.

To that point, Gilchrist, at present, has backing from the powerful Michigan Education Association and Unite Here Local 24.

Byrum, on the other hand, has support from nearly a dozen union locals, including the Greater Lansing Labor Council, Lansing-based UA Local 333 Plumbers & Pipefitters, Detroit’s UA Local 636 Pipefitters, Flint’s UA Local 370 Plumbers & Pipefitters and Monroe’s UA Local 671 Plumbers, Pipefitters, HVAC & Welders.

Byrum said she wasn’t fazed by Gilchrist’s swift albeit late launch.

“I had three opponents last month; I have three opponents today,” Byrum told the Advance. “I am the only qualified candidate in this race for Secretary of State. I’m the only candidate who has run an election, 42 to be exact. I have been, for 13 years, the only one who’s a nationally certified election administrator. … None of my opponents have done anything like that.”

Byrum added that Michigan needs a secretary of state who is “ready and willing on day one to defend the integrity of our elections.”

“I’m that candidate,” she said.

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