Michigan Candidate
Fact Sheets

“There's no way around it, climate change is only going to get more expensive to deal w/ disasters, dying industries, and crumbling infrastructure. And w/o action, we’ll pay in lives, dollars, and broken dreams. Time to get out ahead of it. Time for a #GreenNewDeal.”

"I'll fight against corporate tax breaks and the capture of our economy by billionaires and wanna-be oligarchs. I believe that every worker deserves the right to join a union and to earn a fair wage."

"I categorically oppose the privatization of Medicare or the attempt to cut Medicaid or destroy the ACA market by cutting subsidies. We need to expand guaranteed health insurance, not sell it off to corporations or cut it. I will push to immediately repeal Medicaid and ACA subsidy cuts from the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' Act."

"We need to get to 100% renewable energy, and the only way we're going to do that is by taking the Chevrons and the Exxons of the world out of our politics."

"We need real AI regulation to create guardrails and protect the ability for young people to have a job."

"The crux of the problem here is that we don’t treat renewable energy as the national security issue that it is — that it always has been. Whether it's starting wars we can’t end, or failing to end wars we didn’t start — our addiction to oil and gas keeps getting in the way.

So here’s a proposal: perhaps it's time to relabel renewable energy investment as the matter of national security it so clearly is. Let’s include it in the annual National Defense Authorization Act through which we fund the rest of our national security interests."

"Medical debt shouldn’t exist...it is past time for us to abolish all of it...through Medicare for all."

“I’m the only one for Medicare for all. I’m the only one that will abolish ICE.”

HOST: "Are you in favor of public ownership models?" EL-SAYED: "I want to actually take it a step further...we need some system of public control."

Supports a wealth tax. "Here's the thing. If you tax a billionaire at 8%, you know what? They still are still a billionaire. Their kids' kids' kids' kids' kids are going to be rich. They're gonna be okay."

“one insurance program for everyone.”

"But college should probably just be free.
Ultimately, we shouldn’t have to cancel debt. College should just be free. After all, the debt conversation ignores all of the people who considered college out of reach in the first place—and never went. We have to make college affordable for them, too.

On that basis, some have argued that universal free college is too broad—it would be a “giveaway” to the rich. After all, children of high income families are the ones most likely to go to college regardless of the cost. Rather, we should mean-test plans to target those for whom costs are the only barrier.

But that ignores the dynamics of higher education I discussed above. So long as we maintain a tiered system, colleges and universities will retain the incentive to attract rich students who pay full tuition—thus investing in amenities that don’t improve the quality of the educational experience while raising the costs for everyone. It’s a recipe for inflating higher education costs and playing into the hands of the next Republican ideologue who wants to cut the program for being too expensive. By contrast, a universal program would attract universal buy-in and political support across the board. The most abiding public programs in our country have always been the most universal.

We need universal free college.

But for now, let’s at least cancel as much student debt as possible."

"But college should probably just be free.
Ultimately, we shouldn’t have to cancel debt. College should just be free. After all, the debt conversation ignores all of the people who considered college out of reach in the first place—and never went. We have to make college affordable for them, too.

On that basis, some have argued that universal free college is too broad—it would be a “giveaway” to the rich. After all, children of high income families are the ones most likely to go to college regardless of the cost. Rather, we should mean-test plans to target those for whom costs are the only barrier.

But that ignores the dynamics of higher education I discussed above. So long as we maintain a tiered system, colleges and universities will retain the incentive to attract rich students who pay full tuition—thus investing in amenities that don’t improve the quality of the educational experience while raising the costs for everyone. It’s a recipe for inflating higher education costs and playing into the hands of the next Republican ideologue who wants to cut the program for being too expensive. By contrast, a universal program would attract universal buy-in and political support across the board. The most abiding public programs in our country have always been the most universal.

We need universal free college.

But for now, let’s at least cancel as much student debt as possible."

"Oil and gas dependence doesn't just poison our air, it finances foreign entanglements and enriches the same corporations that have spent decades lying to us about what they knew. Michigan deserves better. That's why I'll fight for a pathway to 100% renewable energy."

“'We need 100% renewable energy, and we need it yesterday,' El-Sayed said, calling recent price hikes tied to the Iran war an important reminder that the US remains 'uniquely susceptible' without it."

El-Sayed pledged to enact laws to ensure that the EPA may "regulate greenhouse gases" and make "environmental justice an explicit mandate, not an afterthought, of every federal agency with authority over our air and water."

"So here’s a proposal: perhaps it's time to relabel renewable energy investment as the matter of national security it so clearly is. Let’s include it in the annual National Defense Authorization Act through which we fund the rest of our national security interests. After all, that bill seems to grow every year, and it always garners broad bipartisan support. "

El-Sayed opposes the filibuster because it is preventing the enactment of several policies, including a green regulatory framework:

"The filibuster is a choke on democracy...Seven Democratic policy priorities that can’t pass without [filibuster] reform:

...

7) Green economy.
President Biden doesn’t quite call his ambitious climate agenda a Green New Deal, but he essentially ran on a plan to get to 100% renewable energy by 2035 by fundamentally rebuilding our infrastructure and creating millions of green jobs...which is basically a Green New Deal. Arguably, this could pass through budget reconciliation—and it would have to because there’s no way it could get 60 votes. It would get filibusted in the Senate.’"

"As a public health doctor, I know that by eliminating the local consequences of fossil fuel emissions, and lifting whole communities out of poverty, the Green New Deal will also be a Public Health New Deal."

"Oil and gas dependence doesn’t just poison our air, it finances foreign entanglements and enriches the same corporations that have spent decades lying to us about what they knew. Michigan deserves better. That’s why I’ll fight for a pathway to 100% renewable energy. We will anchor it in massive investment in solar, wind, and battery storage, a modernized smart grid, and the energy efficiency upgrades that put money back in families’ pockets. Every step of that transition must be built on good union jobs because solving the climate crisis, rebuilding the American middle class, and providing reliable, affordable power are not competing goals–they are the same goal. I understand that we must remain open to emerging climate solutions as they develop, assessing them on safety, reliability, and community support."

We must replace our broken and unpredictable immigration policy with a clear, comprehensive, and fair system. That begins with Abolishing ICE. ICE has become a tool for autocracy. Its culture of aggression, impunity, and disregard for the rule of law cannot be reformed or retrained. It must be abolished. I believe in a safe, secure border and immigration enforcement–but under a new organizational structure that puts basic human dignity and deference to the rule of law first. And I believe that ICE funds should be repurposed to build out the legal infrastructure of courts to create a clear pathway to citizenship for those who are stuck in limbo in our current system.

"ICE is not about immigration, ICE is not about the southern border. ICE is about normalizing paramilitary force on our streets." (El-Sayed in Michigan Senate primary debate)

"Standing up to the corporate monopolies, 'oligopolies'...guaranteeing healthcare to every single person in this country... abolishing ICE."

“I’m the only one for Medicare for all. I’m the only one that will abolish ICE.”

"Abdul El-Sayed calls ICE a 'paramilitary force' and says we "have to abolish ICE.'"

"El-Sayed says as the son of Egyptian immigrants, he understands the value of immigrant communities and Michigan should consider how to become a sanctuary state.'"'

"Absent national reform that provides a viable path to citizenship for immigrants who may have entered the country illegally, El-Sayed said Michigan should work to protect families and acknowledge the role immigrants play in some parts of the state economy, including farmers who rely on migrant workers.

Sanctuary status would mean 'the state is not going to invest its own dollars, its own police force, its own corrections money equipping and empowering what seems to be questionable and often dispassionate enforcement of laws and policies that are unclear at best,' he said."

"The filibuster is a choke on democracy...

Filibusted: Seven Democratic policy priorities that can’t pass without reform.

5) A Pathway to Citizenship.
The Biden-Harris Administration has unveiled the US Citizenship Act of 2021 a sweeping immigration reform bill that would provide a “roadmap to citizenship” for undocumented Americans, including Dreamers, TPS holders, and immigrant farmworkers. It would seek to eliminate barriers that divide immigrant families, prohibit religious discrimination in immigration policies, and improve the immigration court system. As you likely guessed, this bill "would get filibusted in the Senate.

"We have ICE now and we have far, far more undocumented people. SO ICE is clearly not working. They are just shooting American citizens in the face and the back of the head."

Question: "So getting rid of Sharia Law is white suppremecy. Can you explain that one?

El-Sayed: "Do you know what Canon Law is, Jesse? Assume you're a Christian, right?.. So Canon Law is the name for Christian law. I don't begrudge you your right to practice your faith as you choose. I don't know why the idea that I could practice my faith as I choose is a problem. Nobody is trying to push Sharia Law on anyone else, Just like, I hope, nobody is trying to push Canon Law on anybody else. We live in America where we should have the freedom of your religion...I would never want to push my faith on somebody else."

El-Sayed criticized a 2010 ballot measure (State Question 755 in Oklahoma), which sought to ban courts from considering Sharia law. He compared the effort to driving Native Americans from their land, destroying Black Wall Street, and the Oklahoma City bombing: “The same exact forces that drove Native peoples from their land two centuries ago, destroyed Black Wall Street a century ago, bombed a building decades ago, and tried to ban Sharia law not a decade ago, those forces are alive and well today,” El-Sayed said.

"At a CAIR banquet in Oklahoma, the Islamic supremacist now running for U.S. Senate stood up and said this:

'You cannot understand a ban on Sharia without understanding the Trail of Tears...

You cannot understand efforts against Muslim Americans without understanding the Tulsa Massacre.

You cannot understand the challenges Muslims face today without understanding ‘white supremacy.’”

"Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. This is Dr. Abdul El Sayed… I cannot wait to be in Washington D.C. for the CAIR National Conference and annual banquet. We’ll be talking about… fighting for JUSTICE and liberty. Care… is a critical organization for our future. I look forward to supporting.”

"As a 24-year-old medical student, Abdul El-Sayed sat down with The New York Times in 2009 to discuss buying his first home. He had chosen a Sharia-compliant mortgage for a $123,000 condominium in Ann Arbor. The arrangement avoided interest, which Islamic law prohibits.

El-Sayed explained his decision. 'Ultimately, the question is, when I die and I stand before God and go through everything I did in my life, I don’t want to say I did it the easy way instead of the Shariah-compliant way. Not because of fear but because of obligation,' he told the outlet."

"El-Sayed, the former Detroit health director, was the most direct in his comments.

"The right scientific choice here is to mandate masks," he said. "I am not in local or state government. But if you look at the guidance, it’s rather clear. I think any level of government that has the capacity to do this thing would be taking it upon themselves to lead in the face of a lot of vitriol but also to keep our children safe and potentially save a lot of folks from being ill and potentially save lives."

"Right now, thousands of police officers are threatening resignation across the country because they are being required to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The hypocrisy is galling. They’re bristling at the exercise of the government power that they wield onto others, onto them...

And right now, that culture is pushing back on vaccine requirements for police officers. Never mind the obvious importance of vaccine requirements that I’ve written to previously. It’s that thousands of officers are threatening resignation in protest of these requirements.

What hypocrisy. The power to police, itself, emerges from the government's monopoly on the use of force. Police are an embodiment of that force. But police officers, who are deputized by the government to wield force in society are now contesting the government’s right to force them to get vaccinated?!"

"Rather than universal mask mandates, we need vaccine verification that requires people to either vax up or mask up...

But there’s also been public outcry. Thousands took to the streets to oppose what they called a violation of their civil liberties. Some compared themselves to Jews forced to wear Stars of David in Nazi Germany. But the historical inaccuracy and shrillness of these protests highlight what’s really at stake. This isn’t about discrimination — vaccine resistance isn’t an identity, after all. A small group of people whipped into hysteria over conspiracy theories and lies are now painting themselves as victims because the government has stepped in to stop them from holding the rest of their country hostage to this pandemic...

Though the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has indicated that employers can require vaccine verification, there remains a lack of clarity about this. The EEOC would do well to project their ruling far more broadly. In addition, a rising number of customer outbursts over masking — such as on airplanes — has businesses worried about customer behavior should they institute vaccine verification. The Justice Department could be quicker to action and more forceful in prosecuting these kinds of disruptions. “Law and order,” after all."

"If we’re serious about protecting our democracy—and our public health—we need to regulate social media .... even free speech is necessarily limited when it comes to protecting the public’s health."

"Michigan needs to lock down.
Vaccines alone can’t stop this surge—the math just doesn’t work."

"Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed is starting to propose a progressive platform that includes making Michigan a 'sanctuary state,' providing universal preschool and offering publicly funded health insurance to any resident needing coverage."

In written testimony to the Senate Budget Committee, El-Sayed described his proposal for universal national health insurance, a taxpayer-funded program in which “every single resident” would have cradle-to-grave coverage.

"I oppose mandatory Voter ID laws like the 'SAVE Act' that impose unnecessary barriers to citizens voting. Instead, I believe in making voting easier. Voters should be automatically registered to vote when they turn eighteen and reregistered automatically when they move."

El-Sayed opposes the filibuster because it is preventing the enactment of legilsation such as the For the People Act.
The For the People Act (aka HR1) would have created nationwide automatic voter registration, allowed people with felony sentences to vote, expanded early and absentee voting, facilitated vote by mail, prevented purging of voter rolls, and created a pathway for DC statehood. It classified requiring ID as discriminatory.

"It's important to fight at the state level to protect access to bathrooms, to locker rooms, to sports teams of choice for young people." (El-Sayed on protecting transgender student rights)

"I think we should abolish the filibuster and the Electoral College."

El-Sayed Facebook Post Caption: "Supreme Court reform? I'm down." Statement in imbedded video: “Would that expand the court? Sure but there's nothing in the constitution that says that there have to be nine justices…”

In written testimony to the Senate Budget Committee, El-Sayed described his proposal for universal national health insurance, a taxpayer-funded program in which “every single resident” would have cradle-to-grave coverage.

"I believe Medicare for All should cover all healthcare. That includes gender-affirming care."

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is pressed over his support for sex-change procedures for minors during an appearance on @JesseBWatters El-Sayed defended his position by arguing the government should stay out of healthcare decisions as Watters questioned him on the issue.

Physicians at Michigan Medicine are being bullied into denying healthcare that they, their patients, and and their patients' parents all agree they should deliver by MAGA goons in the Justice Department. That's because MAGA wants to deny your right to healthcare they don't agree with. This isn't just about gender affirming care or abortion, it's about government deciding what you can or can't do with your body.

"The things that I meant and was trying to redefine our public policy around...I agree with. If you think about like a cashless bail system, what we're doing is discriminating against poverty."

"and you ask yourself, why are we investing so much in people with guns and less in people with the means of being able to invest in young folks, empower folks through their livelihoods, and empower them to live their best lives? ..Do police really need to use guns? Do we need as much of a police force? And so, if we ask ourselves about how we spend money in the public, where that money goes, where it comes from, we need to make a lot better decision about investing in the things that root out poverty, rather than investing in policing poverty."

"Most major US cities spend WAY TOO MUCH on police departments to police poverty & WAY TOO LITTLE on public schools, health departments, recreation departments, & housing to eliminate poverty.

Fixing that is what the #Defund movement is about."

"'I’m glad that politicians are finally coming along,” says El-Sayed. “In the public health world, we’ve been talking about systemic racism and police brutality and mass incarceration and over-policing as public health issues for a long time...

Racism is a public health issue. It is the most important social determinant of health, maybe after poverty, and the two are deeply intertwined.

El-Sayed discusses some specific policies that he believes can help address this crisis, including re-allocating money that is now used on policing to public services that he says are more effective at addressing racism and poverty in America. He says these policy goals at first without using the term 'defund the police,' which has become a rallying cry in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. But, when asked about it, he says it’s a sentiment he agrees with.

"Defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating someone or killing them on the streets and investing more in the means of educating and empowering and engaging communities...

We are in a moment when a lot of our public conversation gets chewed down into 280 characters or less. And that is not the best way to talk about anything. So, you’ll note, I didn’t say ‘defund the police,’ I just described what needed to be done. And I do think we need to be really focused on describing or explaining rather than sort of hedging on one side or the other behind a hashtag.

'Defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating someone or killing them on the streets and investing more in the means of educating and empowering and engaging communities with the means of being able to take on systemic poverty that we’ve allowed to fester in too many communities.”

El-Sayed says he like to talk about it as “re-funding.”

“I want a re-fund on the taxpayer dollars that I pay to police who use that to buy war materiel to wage war in our streets. And I want to re-fund public health and public libraries and public schools and the means of uprooting poverty,” he says. “What we call that is, to me, less important than what we do on the problems on the ground.”

"I keep hearing that ATL police were "following proper police protocol" when they shot & killed #RayshardBrooks...

which tells me is that policing as we know it is so broken, it can't be fixed.

You know what can? Schools, libraries, parks, clinics. Let's reinvest there."

"Rather than calling it the "#defund" movement, we should call it the #REfund movement:

We demand a refund on all tax dollars to fund military police & brutality...
to use those dollars to RE-fund:
housing
public health
schools
libraries
parks
infrastructure"

"The police have become standing armies we deploy against our own people. "

"The things that I meant and was trying to redefine our public policy around...I agree with. If you think about like a cashless bail system, what we're doing is discriminating against poverty."

“Any and all efforts to get people out of jails and prisons and to keep people out of jails and prisons is policy that we need to be investing in particularly right now … this doesn’t end when the pandemic’s over.”
Timestamp: 39:45

“There are so many ways that society has failed to deal with real problems and has used policing and jails as a stopgap for all of these failures.”
Timestamp 38:12
(The webinar was promoted as a discussion of “the road to decarceration and abolition with Abdul El-Sayed” and used the hashtags #FreeThemAll and #AbolishPrison.)

"I literally wrote the book on Medicare for All. And I am the only candidate for the U.S. Senate in Michigan running to guarantee healthcare for every single American. No one should have to choose between getting the care they need or going into debt in the richest, most powerful country in the world."

"I will fight to expand Medicare to cover all necessary healthcare, including vision, dental, and hearing, and extend it to every single American from cradle to grave without premiums, copays, or deductibles. Medicare should be automatic, for everyone, and accepted everywhere."

"I believe Medicare for All should cover all healthcare. That includes gender-affirming care."

"Standing up to the corporate monopolies, 'oligopolies'...guaranteeing healthcare to every single person in this country... abolishing ICE."

"We have the resources to guarantee cradle-to-grave healthcare. What we've lacked is the political will. We don't have to live like this."

“one insurance program for everyone.”

El-Sayed's website states (in Medicare-For-All section): "Healthcare decisions should be made by a patient (and their parents if they are a minor) and their doctor — no one else. That includes reproductive and gender-affirming care. I'll fight to codify the rights once protected by Roe v. Wade into federal law." (Under .)

"For the last three years, doctors have been forced to deny life-saving care because politicians are standing in the way. People have died because of it.

It’s time to codify Roe and return the decision to the people whose bodies it affects, rather than politicians."

Secretary Benson statement on Michigan House Republicans’ budget proposal:

“There is no valid reason for these irresponsible cuts. This budget is based on wrong numbers and falsehoods, and it will make people’s lives worse."

"Goals to accomplish that include a new caregiver tax credit...

When asked if she would support universal healthcare during a press conference Thursday, Benson said healthcare should be available to everyone but argued any idea is only as good as the agency in charge of putting it in place.

'The centerpiece of my plan is recognizing that an outdated infrastructure bogs down MDHHS and that’s what we have to fix in order to achieve any of these outcomes. The agency is overburdened, it’s under resourced, and it’s a safety-net system that is failing and that is at the core of a lot of the stories I’m hearing around the state,' Benson said.

'As the next governor of Michigan, ensuring our healthcare system is affordable, accessible, and fair is my priority. And working with every single person to get that done while using every tool in my toolbox to get that done will be my mandate and will be my north star,' she told reporters."

"I will always be proud to stand up to even the president of the United States if he would try to interfere with the rights and protections that every resident in the state should be afforded." (Benson, July 2026 interview — referring to ICE operations and federal involvement)

"ICE agents coming and federal agents really terrorizing residents. Not just here in Michigan but across the nation"

Asked to comment on Gov. Whitmer's advocating for illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, the Office of Secretary of State Benson issued this statement:
“Secretary Benson has met with community leaders and legislators and stands with the governor in support of changing the law so that all individuals working and residing in our state may obtain a state ID or a driver’s license for use in Michigan.”

Speaking to the Michigan Education Agency teachers' union, she vowed to "use every tool in her toolbox to protect every resident of this state, even if it means standing up to the president of the United States. If anyone at the federal level were to try to come for our families, for our kids, for any of you, or any of us.. that is not a partisan issue. That is a humanity issue, and the next governor of Michigan must have and demonstrate that they will live the moral courage that I have as Secretary of State to protect the young people, the educators, every resident of this state, no matter what type of tactic the bully in the White House tries to bring to our communities."

"I'm proud to be a part of the Democratic party because we're the party of Medicaid, we're the party of Medicare."

"60 years ago, the Democratic Party made a promise with Medicare and Medicaid, that every American deserves access to health care....Health care is a right and I’ll never stop fighting to protect it."

"As governor, Jocelyn will ensure every Michigander, in every zipcode, has access to the affordable, quality healthcare they deserve."

"Healthcare should be accessible and affordable for every Michigander. Period."

“Healthcare should be a right, not a privilege.”

Responding to MHSAA allowing trans people in sports, Benson stated:
"Incredible, electrifying energy in the room today speaking with female athletes & coaches about our work
@MIWomenInSports to create more opportunities for women to lead in sports. Thank you for
@MHSAA for your partnership and commitment to equity. @WomensSportsFdn
#EquityProject"

Discussing who should be represented in sports leadership, Benson said:
“We need to recognize that’s not just about getting more women in positions of leadership. It’s getting more women who represent multiple identities, multiple communities, multiple races, LGBT, trans women and trans individuals, into positions of leadership and power....and inclusion increases the effectiveness of the team as a whole.”

Benson was asked to assess how the clean energy mandate of 2023 is working and what changes she would make. (The energy package aims to hasten the state’s energy transition away from gasoline and natural-gas, by, among other things, promoting electric vehicles, allowing utility programs to incentivize replacing fossil-fuel appliances with electric alternatives, requiring regulated utilities to achieve 100% clean energy by 2040, and created a process allowing the state to approve large wind and solar projects—even over local opposition—when specified statutory conditions are met, limiting local governments' ability to block or impose more restrictive requirements on qualifying projects.)

Benson answer: "'If done right, this law puts Michigan in a position to lead the nation: expanding clean energy, strengthening grid reliability and lowering costs for families at the same time."

"I’m honored to have the endorsement of
@MichiganLCV

We don’t have to choose between protecting our environment and growing our economy.

As Governor, I’ll lower utility bills, expand affordable clean energy, and hold polluters accountable."

Michigan LCV supports electric vehicle mandates and the Green New Deal which mandates the transition to zero emissions. https://x.com/MichiganLCV/status/1213158455986606081?s=20

Benson opposes the SAVE act, which would require voter id and proof of citizenship to vote: "The politicians pushing the SAVE Act are trying to sell it as a reasonable election security bill, but what it actually does is block millions of eligible U.S. citizens from casting their vote in future elections.

Benson on the SAVE Act's requirement for proof of citizenship to register to vote: "...some states including Arizona and Kansas have already tried this failed policy of requiring specific documents like a birth certificate or U.S. passport to register to vote."

"...I honor and remember an icon of this country. John Lewis fought for every person in this country to have the right to vote, no matter their race. He fought for fairness and equality, and his name is part of a monumental piece of legislation, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act....This bill has still not passed."

HB4 - John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 - federalizing elections and making state go through DOJ to change voting laws. Voter ID laws would be considered discriminatory.

"'There are times in which there are red flag laws that can be better enforced to ensure that weapons don't end up in the hands of abusers who ... then ... allegedly use those weapons to cause great harm and kill,' Benson said."

"As a mom of a 9 year old boy, I know how important it is to keep our kids and communities safe from gun violence. That’s why I am so proud to have GIFFORDS PAC’s support and endorsement as I seek to serve as the next governor of Michigan.

As Secretary of State I’ve worked to keep guns away from the ballot box, and have stood up to political violence — whether on my own front lawn, our state capitol building, or anywhere else in our state. I’ll continue to prioritize this work as governor, working with anyone willing to get things done to keep all Michiganders safe and secure."

"She'll be a strong champion for keeping guns out of the hands of children and those experiencing mental health crises, regulating the proliferation of the kinds of untraceable ghost guns... and investing in lifesaving community violence intervention programs." (Describing Benson's public safety approach — community intervention over incarceration)

"Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and partners in the LGBTQIA+ community today celebrated the first day that the Michigan Department of State is offering a nonbinary option - marked with an "X" - as a sex marker on Michigan driver's licenses and state identification cards."

Benson eliminated the state-issued ID requirement to provide medical documentation in order for an applicant to change gender designation, allowing an applicant to simply self-attest to the preferred gender on the ID:

"In 2019, early in her tenure, she was scrapping the medical documentation requirements transgender Michiganders had long faced when updating gender markers on their IDs, replacing the whole process with a simple self-attestation form."

"My goal has been to not only ensure everyone who interacts with our office is treated with respect and equity, but also to show up in the community to make sure everyone knows they have a place on our team and a direct line to me in sharing their concerns, their worries, their hopes and their dreams. I'll continue to do that as governor, working directly with our LGBTQ+ Michiganders to change policies that protect everyone's rights and affirm identities."

"Three years ago, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, stripping away a fundamental freedom from millions of Americans...As governor, I’ll fight to make sure our rights are protected and real—to ensure every Michigander has access to the lifesaving reproductive care they need."

"I’m honored to be endorsed by Reproductive Freedom for All – an organization that understands how essential comprehensive reproductive care is for women’s health, helping families stay safe and supported during challenging times. I’m proud that Michigan has enshrined this right to care in our constitution, and as governor, I’ll fight to make sure these rights are as accessible in all areas of Michigan as they are on paper.”

(Benson is referring to Michigan's Prop 3, which established a right to abortion under the MI constitution. It allows unrestricted abortion (all nine months) using a broad carve-out for the mental health of the mother.)

"For many Michiganders, Planned Parenthood is the only option for annual exams, STI treatment, and cancer screenings, and nearly half of their patients rely on Medicaid. I’m grateful federal judges are stepping up as the last line of defense to ensure everyone — no matter their income — gets the healthcare they need." Shared a post about Trump admin blocking funds from Planned Parenthood.