There is an ongoing disenfranchisement in Michigan, and the state’s chief election officer hasn’t said a word.
About 3% of Michiganders will be subject to taxation without representation this year and made to pay into whatever budget passes, without representation in the Michigan Senate.
The people in the Saginaw Bay region have gone unrepresented since January, when Kristen McDonald Rivet took her seat in Congress. McDonald Rivet is a Democrat, and her seat in Congress has been held by Democrats named Kildee since the 1970s.
Despite the district’s Democrat roots, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer hasn’t called the special election. One-hundred-plus days and counting, and no end in sight. And not a peep from Jocelyn Benson advocating for the right of 270,000 people to be represented in Lansing’s upper chamber.
Whitmer entered 2025 destined to serve the rest of her time in office as a lame duck. And with Republicans running the House and Democrats holding the Senate, 2025 has been the year of gridlock in Lansing.
As of early June, only a few new laws have been passed. If you like the government that governs least, this is your year.
Whitmer has shirked her constitutional duty beyond what’s socially tenable.
If Republicans won the special election, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks would become an empty gavel. It would be deadlock within the senate chamber, gridlock between chambers, and friction between the legislature and the governor. It would be great.
This is the scenario Whitmer fears.
Republicans have tried every stunt to inspire Whitmer to do her job. Rep. Bill G. Schuette, who is thought to be a frontrunner if and when the special election was held, introduced a bill giving residents of that district a 50% break on state taxes this year.
Even Democrats, including Whitmer’s lieutenant governor, Garlin Gilchrist—have joined the call for a special election. Big Gretch has no-sold it all.
Whitmer is a year and a half from retirement, and she’s out on an island.
If ever there was a perfect chance for Jocelyn Benson to become her own woman, just as Gilchrist became his own man, it would be this. If anyone has a bully pulpit that could move headlines and reach Whitmer, it’s Benson. Who better to speak up than the state’s chief election officer?
So, why hasn’t she?
James David Dickson is host of the Enjoyer Podcast. Join him in conversation on X @downi75.
