The Michigan Republican Party has thrown its weight behind two candidates ahead of the 2026 election cycle, endorsing Matt Lloyd for attorney general and Bob Forlini for secretary of state at the party’s state convention.
The endorsements signal the GOP’s attempt to mount serious challenges against Democratic incumbents in two of Michigan’s most consequential statewide offices. Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, both Democrats, have held their positions since 2019 and won reelection in 2022. Republicans are now making their earliest strategic moves to unseat them.
Lloyd, a former Michigan House member who represented parts of mid-Michigan, secured the party’s backing for the attorney general race. Forlini, a veteran state legislator from Macomb County who served in the Michigan House for over a decade, locked up the secretary of state endorsement.
Neither endorsement guarantees a spot on the primary ballot. Michigan requires endorsed candidates to gather petition signatures to qualify, and primary challengers can enter without convention backing. But convention endorsements carry real institutional weight: they unlock party resources, signal to major donors where the establishment wants its money to flow, and shape the early narrative about who the serious candidates are.
The AG Race
The attorney general’s office touches nearly every aspect of Michigan governance and law enforcement. Nessel has used the office aggressively, pursuing consumer protection cases, environmental enforcement actions, and criminal referrals connected to the 2020 election dispute. Republicans have made her a frequent political target, and the 2026 race gives them a structured opportunity to challenge her directly.
Lloyd brings legislative experience to the race, but the attorney general’s office demands a different skill set than Lansing committee work. Voters typically expect AG candidates to demonstrate prosecutorial credibility or deep legal expertise. Whether Lloyd can build that case to Michigan’s broader electorate, beyond the convention delegates who endorsed him, will define the early phase of his campaign.
The Republican field for attorney general could still expand. Primary challengers with name recognition or self-funding capacity could enter without seeking the convention endorsement, creating a contested primary that might complicate Lloyd’s path.
The Secretary of State Race
The secretary of state’s office has become one of the most politically charged positions in Michigan government, and nationally, since 2020. Benson oversaw Michigan’s elections during the pandemic, implemented expanded absentee voting, and became a central figure in the national debate over election administration. She survived a reelection campaign in 2022 despite being a top Republican target.
Forlini’s background in the Legislature gives him a foundation of institutional relationships and donor networks in Macomb County, one of the critical swing regions in Michigan politics. Macomb went hard for Donald Trump in 2016, swung partially back toward Democrats in 2020, and continues to be contested territory in statewide races. A candidate rooted there carries both advantages and assumptions about what the base wants.
The secretary of state race will almost certainly center on election administration. Republican base voters remain deeply engaged on questions about voting access, ballot security, and the rules governing how Michigan runs its elections. Forlini will need to translate that energy into a coherent policy platform, not just a contrast with Benson’s record.
Benson has been visible in national Democratic politics and built a fundraising apparatus that will be difficult to match. The financial gap between incumbents in high-profile offices and challengers without statewide name recognition is substantial, and Republican challengers in both races will need to close it quickly.
What Convention Endorsements Actually Mean
Michigan’s political conventions function as an early organizing mechanism, not a definitive verdict. The state party assembles delegates from county organizations, and those delegates reflect the views of the most active, most ideologically committed Republicans rather than the median general election voter.
That dynamic creates a recurring tension for endorsed candidates. Winning the convention means demonstrating strength with the base. Winning a November general election in Michigan means persuading a much broader coalition, including independents and soft partisans in the Detroit suburbs, the Lansing metro, and the Grand Rapids corridor.
Michigan has trended competitive at the statewide level for years, but Democrats have held all three top offices, governor, attorney general, and secretary of state, since 2019. Governor Gretchen Whitmer won reelection in 2022 by a wide margin. Nessel and Benson both survived that cycle. The structural environment for Democrats in Michigan statewide races has been favorable, and Republicans will need both strong candidates and a changed political atmosphere to break through.
The 2026 midterm environment could provide that atmosphere. The party out of the White House typically gains ground in midterm elections, and with Democrats holding the governorship and both U.S. Senate seats from Michigan, they are defending more than Republicans are attacking. National conditions, economic anxiety, any second-term stumbles from the federal level, all of it could shape how Michigan voters feel walking into the polls in November.
Detroit and Southeast Michigan
For Detroit readers, the attorney general and secretary of state races matter in concrete ways. The AG’s office handles consumer protection cases that affect Detroit residents disproportionately, including predatory lending enforcement, utility shutoff disputes, and housing fraud. The office has also been involved in environmental enforcement actions tied to air quality and water contamination, issues with direct consequences for Detroit and surrounding communities.
The secretary of state’s office administers vehicle registration, driver’s licenses, and elections across the state, functions that touch daily life for every Michigan resident. The branch offices that residents line up in, the systems that process their license renewals, the rules that govern how they vote, all of it flows from the policies and priorities set at the top of that office.
Who leads these offices after January 2027 will shape how those functions are carried out. The endorsements made at the Republican convention this year are the opening moves in a process that ends with voters making that choice.
The Road Ahead
Between now and the August 2026 primary, Lloyd and Forlini will need to collect the required signatures to qualify for the ballot, build out campaign infrastructure, hire staff, and begin serious fundraising. Primary season will test whether convention support translates into a broad enough coalition to win without a damaging internal fight.
After the primary, whoever emerges faces a general election against incumbents with statewide recognition, established donor networks, and the advantage of having run and won before in Michigan.
Michigan Republicans have not been without competitive candidates in recent cycles. Tudor Dixon ran a serious gubernatorial campaign in 2022 before losing to Whitmer. The party has infrastructure and institutional capacity. What it has lacked in recent statewide cycles is a combination of strong candidates, favorable conditions, and effective messaging that breaks through to the voters who decide close elections.
The 2026 endorsements are a statement of intent. Whether Lloyd and Forlini can turn that intent into victories against two experienced Democratic incumbents depends on factors that won’t be fully visible until voters weigh in.
The state’s political calendar is now in motion. Both parties are watching who else enters these races, how the fundraising shakes out in the first reporting period, and whether the national environment shifts in ways that help or hurt the candidates each side is building toward November.
