Swanson ‘absolutely’ foresees 2026 bid for governor, while Kildee rules out run
Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson attends a press conference hosted by the re-election campaign of President Joe Biden in Flint on Feb. 19, 2024. Biden faces an increasing challenge in Michigan’s Democratic presidential primary from progressive groups urging voters to vote “uncommitted” to express their dissatisfaction with Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
While nearly everyone involved in Michigan politics is focused on the upcoming presidential election, some hints of what could be to come in 2026, when the state will have an open governor’s race as Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is term-limited, have started to show.
Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson briefly entertained the idea of running for governor in 2022 after he made national headlines the year prior for joining Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Flint.
But that would have involved primarying Whitmer, who won all of the state’s 83 counties in the 2018 Democratic primary.
While he said he is focused on running for reelection as sheriff this year, Swanson said in an interview at a Monday campaign event in Flint for President Joe Biden’s reelection that “there’s a pathway eventually” and that he gets asked about running “multiple times a day.”
He elaborated that a campaign for governor is “absolutely” something he foresees, noting that “it’s an open seat in 2026, so we’ll see. I’m sure there’s a lot of activity.”
