Intriguing 2026 election results in Benzie County, my home in northern Michigan. Races for prominent state and federal offices were really close, decided by a few hundred votes in a county where just over 11,000 votes were cast.
Based on current returns from the Michigan Secretary of State office Benzie voted blue for Gov.-elect Jocelyn Benson, who beat John James by 198 votes here for governor. Similarly Democrat Garlin Gilchirst narrowly beat Anthony Forlini in the race for secretary of state.
Democrat Rebecca Amidon beat Republican Kim Cole for state senate by 15 votes in this county and became first Democrat to win that seat in 44 years and the first woman to ever hold the seat. And Democrat Callie Barr edged out Republican Rep. Jack Bergman for U.S. House of Representatives by 328 votes in Benzie County. Bergman, though, beat Barr in other counties in his expansive district and was re-elected to the seat he’s held in northern Michigan since 2018.
On the other side of the ledger Republican Mike Rogers beat U.S. Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed by 151 votes in this county. Republican Doug Lloyd beat state Attorney General-elect Eli Savit by 150 votes. The county is represented in the state House by two lawmakers. Democrat Betsy Coffia won her race by 59 votes. Republican John Roth won his race by 323 votes.
To some extent Benzie is kind of a political bellwether place. In 2008 Obama beat McCain here 53-45. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer lost here in 2018 but won in Benzie County in 2022. Trump won this county three times in 2016, 2020, and 2024, beating Democrats by about 1,100 votes in all three elections.
Hard to sum this up other than to recognize that we lean red, give blue candidates a lot more consideration and an increasing number of victories. The Benzie County Democratic Party is doing a really good job of rallying voters here. Benzie residents are evaluating every candidate for public office with considerable care.
— Keith Schneider
