Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson officially joined the race for governor.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is already running as an independent and Senate Republican Leader Aric Nesbitt is also in the race with more expected to follow considering election day is still 22 months away.
Benson’s campaign prematurely tweeted the announcement Tuesday night before quickly deleting it.
Local 4’s Jason Colthorp sat down with Benson this morning, and that was the first thing he asked her about.
Colthorp: We’ve seen in the past, sometimes campaigns get off to a rocky start, and then we’ll have trouble finding their footing. How do you overcome kind of a misstep?
Benson: We were virtually excited, so we’re ready to go, and we’ve been working for a while to get ready for today, and I’m really glad that we’re launching strong with such great support all across the state.
Colthorp: The previous governor survived a plot to an attempt on her life, and you already don’t have a partner in the White House, we know that who’s you’ve been at odds with in the past. Why do you want to be governor?
Benson: Well, I’m a mom, and I’ve also seen firsthand how government can actually really work well for people. But my eight year old son is going to be 18 in 10 years, and I want when he’s graduating from high school, for him to have every opportunity he wants, whether he wants to go into manufacturing, go into service, or go into a four year college and on to great things, whatever he does, I want him to be able to do it here in Michigan and call Michigan home like a lot of parents want for our kids. We want our families to be healthy, safe and nearby. So, it’s really important to me that we take our schools from being ranked in the bottom 10 to being ranked in the top 10.
Colthorp: If it gets to the general and you are the Democratic nominee, it could be a three person race with the independent candidate, a former Democrat. How do you run a race there where you don’t split the ticket between those two and immediately elect the Republican nominee?
Benson: Well, I have a unique message for the people of Michigan. I’m a statewide administrator who knows how to get things done and make government work well for everyone, and every single one of our 10 point 5 million residents has experienced that first hand in working with my office. So we’ll deliver that message around the state. It’s one of the reasons I was able to be successful, and just a few years ago, win by 14 points with support from Democrats, Republicans and independents, including winning counties that no other Democrat won in the west side of our state. So we’ll continue. This will be my fourth statewide campaign to show up everywhere, all across the state, and make the case to everyone, Democrat, Republican or independent, that I’m the one who can make sure we bring Michigan forward, make government work well for everyone and invest in our people.
During the interview, Benson pointed to her record of lowering wait times at secretary of state branches as evidence she can make the government work better for everyone.