DETROIT, Mich. (WXYZ) — Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II (D) is dropping out of Michigan's 2026 gubernatorial race and is running for Secretary of State, he announced on Monday morning.
Gilchrist had previously announced a run for Governor in March of 2025. In a video released on X, Gilchrist thanked Michiganders for their support in the race for Governor.
“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. I’m not done with that, not by a long shot,” said Lt. Gov. Gilchrist. “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.”
Working under Gretchen Whitmer, Gilchrist has served as Michigan's Lieutenant Governor since 2019. He is the highest-ranking Black elected official in Michigan history.
A Detroit native, Gilchrist has a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Michigan in Science in Engineering. He previously worked at Microsoft and as a social media manager on Barack Obama's first Presidential campaign before moving back to Detroit to work for city government.
