Article courtesy of MIRS for SBAM’s Lansing Watchdog newsletter
(DETROIT) – Progressive-backed candidates Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II were endorsed Sunday by Democratic Party delegates to be their nominees this November for Attorney General and Secretary of State.
Also, in a convention race viewed by many as embodying the split created in the Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) by the war in the Middle East, Democrats selected Dearborn civil rights attorney Amir Makled for the University of Michigan’s Board of Regents. Makled was selected alongside incumbent Regent Paul Brown, while Democrats rejected incumbent Jordan Acker, the Jewish lawyer who’s been scrutinized by progressives for disciplining anti-Israel college protesters.
The MDP’s convention adjourned around 9:50 p.m., and was attended by a record-breaking 7,252 delegates inside of Detroit’s Huntington Place. Unlike the Republicans’ endorsement convention, where most participants were locally elected precinct delegates, the MDP allows participants to vote if they signed up for the party by late March.
Sunday night displayed energy from the MDP’s latest progressive wing, fervently opposed to things like granting tax breaks for data center developments, large corporate political donations and Israeli military actions.
While the U.S. Senate primary will be determined on statewide ballots in August, progressive Abdul El-Sayed’s camp appeared in droves. Numerous El-Sayed supporters started shouting his name as state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) concluded her remarks as a U.S. Senate candidate on stage, and then booed extensively when U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) addressed the convention.
MIRS spoke with Ryan Bartholomew, a 33-year-old policy professional running for Ann Arbor City Council. Having attended at least three Democratic conventions in the past, Bartholomew said Sunday was by far the largest he’s been to, full of palpable energy.
“There is a lot of grassroots energy around real progressive candidates, folks who are fighting back against the Trump administration…and then also standing up and proposing big, bold ideas to really elevate the needs of working people and put them at the forefront of all of our policymaking,” Bartholomew said. “Ann Arbor has the most expensive rent and childcare of anywhere in the state of Michigan. We are also really focused on environmental issues.”
He said that Republicans “should see the writing on the wall” in today’s progressive-dominant convention.
“People are seeing what (President Donald) Trump has done for the cost of living, what he’s done on human rights violations, this war that he started by himself, and it is really…we are seeing trends coming from the national level down here,” he said.
Savit defeated Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald.
McDonald’s campaign arrived Sunday with two violinists playing music outside of caucus rooms she spoke in, men in full-body orange suits carrying small billboards and a lit-up backdrop for her candidate table.
She lost Sunday despite notable endorsements by the United Auto Workers, the Michigan AFL-CIO and EMILYs List, the national political action committee funding female Democrats. Savit was supported by Michigan Democrats’ Progressive Caucus and the People’s Coalition, the “progressive change” effort recruiting multiple first-time convention goers.
Savit served as senior advisor and legal counsel for the city of Detroit from 2016 through 2020, overseeing the city’s lawsuits against the opioid industry. He also was a law clerk to the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died in September 2020.
“I really think it’s about seeking a party that stands for something, seeking a party that is not going to be afraid to stand up, and I also think that at the end of the day, people want a hopeful vision for the future,” Savit said to reporters after his convention win. “It doesn’t matter if the president is a Democrat or a Republican, if they want to break the law and harm Michiganders, we’ll see them in court. So we’re going to keep that message going into the General because I think that’s what the AG’s job is.”
As for Gilchrist, he won a heated three-way primary with previous Michigan Lottery Commissioner Suzanna Shkreli and Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum. He was backed by the Michigan AFL-CIO, the People’s Coalition and the party’s progressive caucus. Meanwhile, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer did not endorse in the Secretary of State’s primary.
Gilchrist entered the Democrats’ Secretary of State race in January, suspending his campaign for governor. There was a whisper campaign in early 2026 about Gilchrist dropping his gubernatorial bid so that Democratic donors and organizations could consolidate early on behind Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
When Gilchrist entered the Secretary of State’s race, the two other Black Detroit-based candidates left – Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie, who started running in January 2025, and former state Sen. Adam Hollier, who had launched a campaign last September.
In his convention victory speech, Gilchrist said residents wanting to go to a “Pure Michigan” state park with a recreation passport, wanting to drive and wanting to vote must interact with the Secretary of State’s office.
“How this office sees you, how this office accepts you, how this office treats you will either make you feel like you’re a part of something special, or that you are small,” Gilchrist said. “Well, I want every person in Michigan to be and feel welcomed to be a part of something that is bigger than any one of us.”
He said that the second-term version of President Donald Trump is different, more committed, aggressive and cruel. He said that there needs to be a more creative, aggressive, connected and inspired Secretary of State in Michigan to stand up to his challenges.
Gilchrist described himself as someone “who can build a system to get that dirty, dark corporate money out of our politics, someone who can build a system to make sure you get treated with respect…when you show up to your branch office whether or not you have an appointment.”
In response to Sunday night’s results, Michigan Republican Party Chair Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) said that Savit’s record of championing “so-called progressive causes will only endanger our communities and empower criminals.” He also noted that Gilchrist missed 94% of session days in 2025 as the president of the Senate, the only job the constitution gives the Lieutenant Governor to do.
“Michiganders will reject Savit’s soft-on-crime platform in favor of (Eaton County Prosecutor) Doug Lloyd’s tough-on-crime platform based on strict enforcement and accountability,” Runestad said. “Michiganders will now have the opportunity to put up Gilchrist’s failed record, where he was effectively a no-show as lieutenant governor, against the successful record of (Macomb County Clerk) Anthony Forlini.”
For Michigan State University’s Board of Trustees, Democrats selected incumbents Brianna Scott, a Muskegon attorney, and Kelly Tebay Zemke, the Henry Ford director of government and external relations. Term-limited state Sen. Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit) was defeated.
For Wayne State University’s Board of Governors, the party chose Detroit-based labor law attorney Richard Mack and civil rights attorney Shereef Hadi Aheel of Rochester. Michigan Democratic Party Vice Chair Naz Hassan and Detroit minister Jeremiah H.W. Wheeler were not successful.
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