• Prominent Michigan Republicans are asking the Trump administration to monitor Michigan’s 2026 elections
• They allege Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has a conflict because she’s running for governor
• Under Trump, the Department of Justice is already suing Michigan for unredacted voter rolls

Twenty-two Michigan Republicans have called on President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice to oversee Michigan’s elections in 2026, alleging Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has “an inherent and unavoidable conflict of interest” because she is running for governor.

In a letter to Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi, they asked the DOJ to “deploy official election monitors and provide comprehensive oversight” of the state’s elections in August and November next year.

They invited observation of “polling places, absentee ballot processing, voter registration activities and central count facilities across Michigan” next year.

Benson spokesperson Angela Benander noted that Michigan elections are run by more than 1,600 local clerks from both parties and that past secretaries of state have run for other offices while serving.

It happened in 2022 for Benson’s reelection as secretary of state, as it did for her predecessor in 2014, then Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, who’s currently a state senator — and a signatory to the letter. Clerks in Michigan’s 83 counties also regularly run elections while they are seeking reelection.

“Yet by pouring gasoline on our democracy and asking the DOJ to light a match, these lawmakers ignore these truths,” Benander said in a statement. “They instead use dangerous, false rhetoric to encourage President Trump to illegally interfere in our state’s ability to hold fair and free elections.”

Related:

• A week after election, 37 uncounted ballots may decide Michigan mayoral race
• Emails: Michigan transparency portal marred by ‘unacceptable’ delays, bugs
• Trump pardons Michigan false electors, allies who challenged his 2020 loss

In Michigan elections, votes are totalled by localities, before being sent to counties, which report those totals to the state.

Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, a Porter Township Republican who’s also running for governor, is the first signature on the letter. Michigan Republican Party Chair Jim Runestad, a state senator from White Lake, also signed on.

Benson’s status as secretary of state and a 2026 gubernatorial candidate is a conflict of interest because she “will be administering an election in which she has a direct personal stake in the outcome,” the lawmakers wrote.

Benson is competing for the Democratic nomination, which she’ll need to win to make it to next year’s general election ballot. Other primary candidates include Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson.

The letter may signal some of the tensions that will emerge ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Benson’s department, as the letter notes, has been subject to numerous Republican-affiliated lawsuits since the 2020 election, which Trump and his allies falsely claimed was decided by widespread fraud.

Republicans and conservative groups have sued the state in recent years over maintenance of its voter rolls, voters living abroad, guidance on signature matching, voter-approved election law changes and election instruction materials — with mixed results.

Several of the suits have been dismissed, but judges have also rebuffed Benson limits on poll challengers and voter signature match guidance, among other things.

The Michigan Democratic Party panned the GOP request for DOJ oversight.

“Donald Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election in Michigan, and now Michigan Republicans are opening the door to try and interfere in the 2026 election in a pathetic ploy for attention,” party Chair Curtis Hertel said in a statement.

The DOJ in Trump’s second term is taking a more active role in scrutinizing states’ electoral processes. It is currently suing Michigan for access to unredacted voter data.

Federal oversight of elections on Election Day is not unheard of, but most instances historically have occurred because authorities wanted to ensure compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act, watching for instances of voter suppression — not due to suggestions of poor operations or voter fraud.

The department monitored polling sites in New Jersey and California for the general election held earlier this month. Five California polling places were reportedly monitored at the request of that state’s Republican party. The federal observers did not raise any public objections about the conduct of those elections, but drew harsh criticism from election officials and Democrats.

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