The 2018 Michigan gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the next

governor of Michigan The governor of Michigan is the head of government of the U.S. state of Michigan. The current governor is Gretchen Whitmer, a member of the Democratic Party, who was inaugurated on January 1, 2019, as the state's 49th governor. She was re-ele ...

, concurrently with the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

of Michigan's Class I U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states,

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

, and various

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and

local elections Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

. Incumbent Republican Governor

Rick Snyder Richard Dale Snyder (born August 19, 1958) is an American business executive, venture capitalist, attorney, accountant, and politician who served as the 48th governor of Michigan from 2011 to 2019. Snyder, who was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, ...

and

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Brian Calley were term-limited and were unable to seek a third term in office. The filing deadline was April 24, 2018. The Republican, Democratic and

Libertarian parties This is a list of libertarian political parties. Active parties by country Defunct parties by country Organizations associated with Libertarian parties See also * Liberal parties by country * List of libertarian organizations * Lists ...

chose their nominees in a partisan primary on August 7, 2018. 2018 was the first year the Libertarian Party held a gubernatorial primary alongside the two other major parties in the state of Michigan. The Working Class Party, U.S. Taxpayers Party,

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

and

Natural Law Party The Natural Law Party (NLP) is a transnational party founded in 1992 on "the principles of Transcendental Meditation", the laws of nature, and their application to all levels of government. At its peak, it was active in up to 74 countries; it co ...

chose their nominees at state party conventions. The race was not as close as expected, with Democrat Gretchen Whitmer was elected with 53.3% of the vote to Republican Bill Schuette's 43.8%. Schuette performed best in more sparsely populated areas, while Whitmer was supported by large margins in large and medium cities, such as

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Ann Arbor Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

, and

Lansing Lansing () is the capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. It is the sixth-most populous city in Michigan with a popul ...

. Whitmer also performed well in the Detroit suburbs. Whitmer carried former Republican stronghold Kent County (location of her native

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

), the first Democratic candidate to do so since

James Blanchard James Johnston Blanchard (born August 8, 1942) is an American attorney, diplomat, and politician who served as the 45th governor of Michigan from 1983 to 1991. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Blanchard previo ...

's landslide 1986 reelection. Democrats swept the statewide races by also holding onto the Senate seat that was up for re-election, and picking up the positions of secretary of state and

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

. They also captured every state university trustee seat that was up for election as well as the State Board of Education.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominated

Bill Schuette William Duncan Schuette ( ; born October 13, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 53rd attorney general of Michigan from 2011 to 2019. He was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for Senate in 1990 and for Governor of Mi ...

Attorney General of Michigan The attorney general of the State of Michigan is the fourth-ranking official in the U.S. state of Michigan. The officeholder is elected statewide in the November general election alongside the governor of Michigan, governor, Lieutenant Governor of ...

Eliminated in primary

* Brian Calley,

* Patrick Colbeck, state senator * Jim Hines, physician and president of the Christian Medical and Dental Associations

Declined

* David Agema, former

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...

man and former state representative (endorsed Patrick Colbeck) *

Jase Bolger James "Jase" Bolger (born February 2, 1971) served as the 71st Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives from January 12, 2011 to the end of 2014 session. Bolger is a member of the Republican Party, and represented Michigan's 63rd house ...

, former Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives * Larry C. Inman, state representative * Ruth Johnson,

Michigan Secretary of State The Michigan Department of State is a principal executive department of the government of Michigan. It is responsible for administering Election, elections, regulating Notary public, notaries public, and maintaining records of statutes and the S ...

and nominee for lieutenant governor in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

(running for state senate) *

Arlan Meekhof Arlan B. Meekhof (born November 28, 1959) is an American Republican politician from Michigan formerly serving in the Michigan Senate and as that chamber's majority leader. He previously served two terms in the Michigan House of Representatives. ...

, Majority Leader of the Michigan Senate *

Candice Miller Candice Sue Miller (née McDonald; born May 7, 1954) is an American politician serving as the Public Works Commissioner of Macomb County, Michigan since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Miller previously served as the U.S. representative ...

, Macomb County Public Works Commissioner and former

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

(endorsed Bill Schuette)

Endorsements

Debates

Polling

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominated

Gretchen Whitmer Gretchen Esther Whitmer (; born August 23, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 49th governor of Michigan since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she served in the Michigan House of R ...

, former

Ingham County Ingham County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 284,900. The county seat is Mason. Lansing, the state capital of Michigan, is largely located within the county. Lansing is the onl ...

Prosecuting Attorney and former Minority Leader of the Michigan Senate

Eliminated in primary

* Abdul El-Sayed, former executive director of the Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion * Shri Thanedar, author and entrepreneur

Write-In

* Bill C. Cobbs, businessman

Declined

* John Austin, former president of the Michigan Board of Education * Mark Bernstein, member of

University of Michigan Board of Regents The Regents of the University of Michigan, sometimes referred to as the Board of Regents, is a state constitutional officer, constitutional office of the U.S. state of Michigan which forms the governing body of the University of Michigan, Univers ...

Mike Duggan Michael Edward Duggan (born July 15, 1958) is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician serving as the List of mayors of Detroit, Michigan, 75th mayor of Detroit, Michigan since 2014. An Independent politician, Independent, Duggan previo ...

Mayor of Detroit This is a list of mayors of Detroit, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The current mayor is Mike Duggan, who was sworn into office on January 1, 2014. History of Detroit's executive authority During the earliest part of its history, Detroit was a ...

* Geoffrey Fieger, attorney and nominee for governor in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

* Mark Hackel, Macomb County Executive *

Dan Kildee Daniel Timothy Kildee (; born August 11, 1958) is an American politician who served as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from Michigan from 2013 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Par ...

, U.S. representative * Andy Levin, energy consultant and son of Congressman

Sander Levin Sander Martin Levin (born September 6, 1931) is an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 2019, representing (numbered as the from 1983 to 1993 and as the from 1993 to 2013). Levin, a member ...

(running for

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

in MI-9) * Barbara McQuade, former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan *

Gary Peters Gary Charles Peters (born December 1, 1958) is an American lawyer, politician, and former military officer serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Michigan, a seat he has hel ...

, U.S. senator * Matt Simoncini, CEO of Lear Corporation * Bart Stupak, former U.S. representative

Endorsements

Debates

Polling

Results

Libertarian primary

The Libertarian Party is one of three parties that have a primary in Michigan.

Candidates

Nominated

* Bill Gelineau

Eliminated in primary

* John Tatar

Endorsements

Debates

Results

Green Convention

The Green Party chose candidates for the 2018 ballot at its state convention on May 5, 2018, at the University of Michigan-Flint.

Candidates

Declared and nominated

* Jennifer Kurland, president of the Redford Union School Board

U.S. Taxpayers Party

Candidates

Declared and nominated

* Todd Schleiger

Natural Law Party

Candidates

Declared and nominated

* Keith Butkovich

General election

Predictions

Endorsements

Polling

with Bill Schuette and Abdul El-Sayed
with Bill Schuette and Shri Thanedar
with Brian Calley and Gretchen Whitmer
with Brian Calley and Shri Thanedar
with Bill Schuette and Geoffrey Fieger
with Bill Schuette and Mike Duggan

Fundraising

Debates

Two televised debates between Schuette and Whitmer were scheduled. The first debate was held on Friday, October 12, and hosted by Grand Rapids television station

WOOD-TV WOOD-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for West Michigan. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Battle Creek–licensed dual American Broadcasting Compan ...

. That debate mainly concentrated on issues and there were no surprises or major errors from either candidate. The second debate was hosted by Detroit television station

WDIV WDIV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with NBC. It serves as the flagship broadcast property of the Graham Media Group subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company. WDIV-TV maintains studio facilit ...

and was held on Wednesday, October 24. The two again clashed on various issues, but Schuette made a

gaffe A political gaffe is a mistake or blunder in speech or action made by a politician that attracts media attention and public scrutiny. While often unintended, political gaffes can have significant consequences, as they may reveal the politician's p ...

when he mixed up Whitmer's name with that of former governor

Jennifer Granholm Jennifer Mulhern Granholm (born February 5, 1959) is an American politician who was the 16th United States secretary of energy from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she previously served as the 47t ...

Campaign

While Whitmer's Democratic primary opponents publicly endorsed Whitmer in the general election, Republican nominee Schuette left the party split after the acrimonious battle with lieutenant governor Calley, with outgoing governor

refusing to endorse Schuette. Schuette also tried to hide his endorsement by

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

from the primary in the general election. His actions as attorney general also came back to haunt him. Whitmer held consistent leads in polls over Schuette over the entire year.

Results

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

* Alger (largest city: Munising) * Baraga (largest village: Baraga) * Manistee (largest city: Manistee)

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

* Clinton (largest city: St. Johns) * Isabella (largest city: Mount Pleasant) *

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

(largest city:

) *

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

(largest city:

) * Leelanau (largest CDP: Greilickville) * Macomb (largest city: Warren) *

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

(largest city:

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

)

By congressional district

Whitmer won seven of Michigan's 14 congressional districts.https://davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap::5a43a57b-ba16-4a6d-ad53-1fcfcd8a253b The seven districts she won all elected Democrats to Congress, and the seven that Schuette won all elected Republicans, though he won the district that elected Justin Amash by a very narrow margin of 0.4% and the district that elected

Fred Upton Frederick Stephen Upton (born April 23, 1953) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1987 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he represented Kalamazoo, Michigan, ...

by an even thinner 0.2%.

Notes

Partisan clients

References

External links

Candidates
at

Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is an American non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected offic ...

Candidates
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Official campaign websites
Bill Gelineau (L) for GovernorJennifer Kurland (G) for GovernorBill Schuette (R) for GovernorGretchen Whitmer (D) for GovernorTodd Schleiger (UST) for Governor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michigan gubernatorial election, 2018

Gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2018 United States gubernatorial elections Gretchen Whitmer