Primary Election Results: Benson vs. James, El-Sayed vs. Stevens, and a String of Uncontested Leelanau Races
By Craig Manning | Aug. 5, 2026
Michigan voters will decide between Democrat Jocelyn Benson and Republican John James come November, as the state prepares to elect its first new governor in eight years. Both candidates handily defeated their fellow party challengers in Tuesday’s primary election. The other big highlight of the day was a razor-thin Senate race between Democrats Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens, which was still too close to call as of 2am Wednesday. In Leelanau County, meanwhile, a slew of uncontested races made Tuesday’s primary more of a formality than a meaningful battleground.
State/national races
Governor: Major media outlets called the Michigan gubernatorial races relatively early Tuesday night, with both Benson and James building …
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