The ink is barely dry on the 2020 election, but speculation is already beginning about who’s going to run in Michigan in 2022. The top three statewide elected offices – governor, attorney general and secretary of state – are all up for election that year. All three offices are currently held by Democrats.
A local politician’s name is being floated as a possible GOP challenger in one of the races.
In a subscriber-only story in today’s Detroit News, State Rep. Ann Bollin, R-Brighton Township, is mentioned as a possible challenger to Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in 2022. As the former Brighton Township clerk, Bollin has experience running elections. She has also made election reform one of her top issues since being first elected in 2018.
Others mentioned in the Detroit News story as possible GOP secretary of state candidates in 2022 are Michigan Republican Party chair Laura Cox and Oakland County GOP activist Meshawn Maddock.
Although Democrats easily swept the top three offices in 2018, Republicans point to the fact that the party out of power in the White House tends to do well in the first election after the presidency changes hands. With Joe Biden’s win in 2020, the GOP is confident that might bode well for Republicans in 2022.
The News article reminds readers that after Democrat Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, Republicans in Michigan were able to win all three statewide offices in 2010, as well as making strong gains in the state Legislature.
