Michigan Republicans Set the Stage for Closely Watched 2026 Election Battle
LANSING — Michigan Republicans have officially nominated their candidates for attorney general and secretary of state, setting the stage for what promises to be one of the most watched elections in the state's recent history.
At the Michigan Republican Party's endorsement convention in Novi on Saturday, March 28, delegates selected Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd as their attorney general nominee and Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini as their secretary of state candidate.
The pair emerged victorious after several hours of voting and tabulating results at the convention, where they secured the backing of state delegates who will carry their nominations to the November general election.
Doug Lloyd: A Prosecutor's Campaign
Eaton County Prosecuting Attorney Doug Lloyd, who has served the county since 2013, campaigned on a platform of fair law enforcement and victim advocacy. Lloyd, a former prosecutor who has worked in the field for over three decades, emphasized his extensive prosecutorial experience as his key asset.
"There are no favorites. You don't pick one over the other," Lloyd said. "Your job is actually to take facts and make the determination whether those facts actually fit a crime."
Lloyd's campaign focused on several key priorities:
Support for Law Enforcement: Lloyd criticized current Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat who cannot run for re-election due to term limits, for not doing enough to support law enforcement. "While law enforcement has to be held to the highest standards, just as everyone in their positions should be, we also have to support them," he stated.
Victim Advocacy: Lloyd said he would ensure victims were heard in the criminal justice process. "I would look at these bills and they would have all these changes that were going to happen to the defendant and all these things that were going to make the defendant's life better. But I noticed that whenever these bills were created, there was never any mention of the victim," he explained.
Lloyd has won four consecutive elections as Eaton County prosecutor, including the county's first contested prosecutor's race since 1972. His campaign contrasts with the three Democratic candidates who have entered the race: Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, and former federal prosecutor Mark Totten.
Anthony Forlini: Election Security Focus
Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini leveraged his extensive experience running elections in Michigan's third-most-populous county to secure the Republican nomination for secretary of state. Forlini won 55% of the vote on the first ballot, avoiding a second round of voting.
His main rivals were Oakland County activist Monica Yatooma (25%) and Clarkston school board member Amanda Love (19%).
Forlini, who was elected Macomb County clerk in 2020 and won a second term in 2024, oversees elections in the county and maintains vital records including marriage licenses and birth and death certificates.
Election Security as Central Theme
Forlini's platform emphasizes election security, drawing on his tenure as Macomb County clerk where he implemented several innovative measures:
Forensic Audits: As clerk, Forlini conducted a forensic audit of the 2020 election in his county, which found no evidence of outside interference.
Ballot Verification: He introduced watermarked paper for ballots and hash validations on tabulators — an algorithmic tool that helps election officials verify software was not tampered with after certification.
Poll Worker Training: Ahead of the 2024 election, Forlini trained poll workers at the county level — unusual in Michigan, where each municipality runs its own elections — to ensure everything across the county would run smoothly.
"Forlini seems like a good guy," said Bill Holt, an Oakland County delegate who wore an Amanda Love shirt at the convention. "He's got good experience."
Sen. Jim Runestad, the chair of the Michigan GOP, praised both nominees as "highly qualified" candidates. "Forlini has done a wonderful job as Macomb clerk," Runestad said. "We couldn't have gotten a better candidate for secretary of state."
High-Stakes Race
The winner of the November general election will succeed Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who is term-limited and running for governor. As Michigan's top election official, the secretary of state's duties will include issuing IDs, registering vehicles, and overseeing the 2028 presidential election in the crucial swing state.
If Forlini wins the general election, he would be the state's first Republican to hold the office since Ruth Johnson from 2011 to 2019.
Forlini touted his perceived electability, a top concern for the party after it nominated Kristina Karamo as its secretary of state candidate in 2022. Karamo, who repeated Trump's baseless claims of large-scale voter fraud in the 2020 election, lost to Benson 56% to 42%.
Voter Roll Cleanup and Transparency
Forlini has repeatedly emphasized transparency as one of his major platform planks. He recently released tens of thousands of ballot images online as part of the county's new "Ballot Verifier" program.
He has also attempted to root out noncitizens on the voter roll in Macomb County using the list of people who claimed to be noncitizens to get out of jury duty. His investigation identified 15 potential noncitizens, but the Michigan Department of State later found the number was smaller and that a number of people Forlini flagged were actually citizens.
Forlini has teamed up with Americans for Citizens Voting, a group attempting to put a question on the November ballot about whether Michiganders should need to prove their citizenship to register to vote. When that group announced it had enough signatures to potentially make the ballot, Forlini called it "phenomenal" in a campaign email.
Democratic Race to Come
Democrats will select their secretary of state nominee at their convention on April 19. The winner will face off against Forlini in November.
Lloyd joins Kevin Kijewski, a defense attorney from Birmingham, in seeking the Republican nomination for attorney general, though Kijewski appears to have dropped out of the race according to recent reporting.
The Michigan Republican Party's endorsement convention also nominated other state-wide candidates, including state senator Terence Collins and Bree Moeggenberg for the State Board of Education.
Looking Ahead
Both Forlini and Lloyd are now officially the Republican Party's nominees and will begin campaigning to a broader base of voters. Forlini told reporters he was looking forward to campaigning to a broader base of voters now. "I think it's what Michiganders are looking for," he said of his campaign message. "People in Macomb County, a purple county, are looking for people to work hard and do their job. The politics is not important. It's important we do what we say we're going to do."
The November general election will be closely watched across the state, with many Republicans hoping Forlini and Lloyd can turn out voters who otherwise might not cast ballots in the midterms. "He's got a loyal base," said delegate Brian Pannebecker. "He's well known and well liked. It's going to make a difference."