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2026 Gubernatorial Candidates Address the Issues
James, Benson on caregiving, fraud and housing
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Michigan voters will choose a new governor on Tuesday, Nov. 3, replacing Gretchen Whitmer (D), who is term limited after eight years in office.
Democrat Jocelyn Benson, 48, of Detroit, is in her eighth year as Michigan secretary of state. She was dean of the Wayne State University Law School previously.
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U.S. Rep. John James, 45, a Republican from Shelby Township, has served in Congress since 2023. Previously, he was president of James Group International and CEO of its subsidiary Renaissance Global Logistics. He served eight years in the Army as an aviation officer.
Candidates addressed issues important to older Michiganders. Questions and answers were edited for clarity and space.
About 1.6 million Michiganders, 1 in 5 adults, provide care to a family member or friend. What options should the state consider to give family caregivers the financial support they need?
JAMES: In Congress, I proposed additional resources for caregivers that includes the tax credit for [paid] caregivers because there are financial constraints that people are facing in doing this.
That’s something that at the state level we can additionally facilitate, and there’s also things that we did protecting Medicaid for those caregivers who rely on those monies, and that means protecting from underfunding, fraud, waste and abuse.
BENSON: In our health care plan, we are investing to enable long-term care to be affordable by enabling a $5,000 caregiver tax credit that will alleviate the financial burden of caring for a loved one in long-term care. As Michigan’s population ages, this will ensure that people who have called Michigan home their entire lives have the support they need from family members, and that their families have the resources they need to provide that support.
Michigan consumers reported losing hundreds of millions to fraud in 2025. What would you do to combat fraud in the state and help Michiganders protect their savings and financial independence?
BENSON: We have to be fact-based and data-driven when we’re looking at addressing fraud in any system and have a partner in the attorney general’s office who’s able to use the tools in the legal toolbox to crack down on those who are violating the law. We need to inject more transparency into our state government.... You need a governor who knows how to also run state government well and run state agencies well, as I’ve done.
JAMES: Having zero tolerance for predators who prey on seniors is a first start. I think that [means] making sure that the AG prosecutes to the full extent of law people who are committing fraud, and supporting legislation, just to start. [It means] using the resources that we have to provide a concierge approach for our seniors, frankly, who earned it—really creating an attitude of respecting our elders, so that our seniors don’t have to, frankly, struggle through a system.
State data show the demand for affordable housing for older adults far exceeds the supply in most Michigan communities. Are there zoning, property tax or other policies you support to help people with rising housing costs?
JAMES: When you are unable to build houses affordably, you keep the inventory low, which jacks up prices. Some seniors want to stay in their homes; others want to downsize. They should have those options at their disposal, and they cannot, if the regulatory, the tort and the tax environments in the state make it nearly impossible for seniors to make the decisions that are best for themselves and their families. Addressing the regulatory environment, the tax environment, to make sure that seniors have the flexibility and freedom to make the decisions that best fit their individual situations is what I’m going to focus on.
Benson: We’re seeing shortages that are locking homebuyers and renters out of the market. Seniors are struggling to remain in the communities they called home for decades. We need a comprehensive approach that treats housing as an economic driver and as a basic need. My housing affordability plan does that by increasing the supply of affordable homes, making it easier to build homes faster but also ensuring that we’re stopping international corporations from buying up properties and pricing seniors out of their neighborhood. We would ban the sale of homes to private equity firms and institutional investors for the first 100 days on the market.
Older adults say they want to remain in their homes and communities as they age. What steps would you take to expand housing, transportation and community supports to help them live independently?
BENSON: As I’ve visited senior centers around southeast Michigan and around the state, it’s clear to me that transportation and lowering transportation costs and investing in transit networks is key.
We’ve also talked about rail systems that can connect all Michigan communities to essential care and opportunity, but in addition to that, making sure we’re increasing housing availability and affordability by streamlining regulations that slow down construction will help us also build more affordable housing in communities. On a fixed income, we need to ensure that life is affordable for our seniors, and whether it’s driving down electricity costs, driving down health care costs or ensuring transportation is available to all, I’ll be doing all of that and more.
JAMES: Among the things that I would do to add the additional transportation requirements is make sure the money that our seniors are paying—and have paid for decades—is being used more responsibly.
The governor is requesting a budget 50 percent more than what she got when she started, and she’s using $20 billion more than during the height of the pandemic, but people don’t feel like their transportation options are 50 percent better. They don’t feel like their health care and education options are 50 percent better.
Taking the $50 billion [for all 50 states] that I helped pass last year for rural hospitals could also help seniors who find themselves geographically isolated from better health care options.
More than 40 percent of Michigan’s private sector workers lack access to a traditional pension or employer-sponsored retirement savings plan. What would you do to help workers save for retirement?
JAMES: Cutting personal income taxes ... three to three and a half billion dollars in the first year of taxes. That should go directly back in the pocket of Michiganders, and then with what we have there, we can also get targeted tax breaks to our caregivers, to our frontline workers in health care, our first responders. These are the things that we can do to essentially create the effect of a pay raise every year, and then concurrently, by cutting harmful regulations, we can do things like cutting electricity bills, we can do things that will help create more economic opportunity, which would create the growth that is required to offset the property taxes that people are paying.
BENSON: We do have to invest in the ability for workers to collectively bargain, so that they can protect their pensions and get that support, and also invest in financial literacy classes and other types of educational opportunities for seniors to identify ways that they can invest their hard-earned money and grow that pension.... My parents were teachers, and they retired, but they’re able to continue to pay their bills today because of a pension that was negotiated for them by their union. So, I’ve seen how important it is that we have agreements to protect those pensions, because it can literally be a defining opportunity for seniors to continue to live and thrive into their retirement age.
There’s been growing concern about the proliferation of data centers and their impact on utility bills. How would you ensure ratepayers aren’t bearing the cost of building these centers?
BENSON: We released a comprehensive data center plan that would recognize the importance of putting guardrails in place to stop data centers from coming to communities and driving up costs. We cannot allow data centers in our state unless they’re built transparently with community input, don’t hurt our water, and have a plan to drive down energy costs and assume the burden of any energy changes they bring to our community, including making tangible investments in clean energy, which is cheaper energy and more affordable for residents of the state. My plan would ensure that’s the case, and that, if it’s not the case, we put moratoriums in place.
JAMES: We have to have balance, and the way you have that is: one, local control; two, electricity bills can’t go up; three, we have to protect our water; four, we have to make sure we prevent pollution; and five, we should not be putting data centers on productive green farmland before we consider blighted and brown fields. Before I make a decision, my answer is going to be, ‘Have you spoken with the locals yet? Do you have buy-in, and have you earned it?’ Michigan is open for business, but we are not for sale. We need to have an ‘all of the above’ approach to economic development, but it cannot come at the expense of everyday Michiganders.
Michigan is facing a shortage of primary care, mental health and other providers. What would you do to bolster the state’s health care workforce?
JAMES: Enticing folks to come here, by having an environment that is more hospitable, not just for business, but for young talent to come here and grow their families, will have a beneficial approach for more medical personnel and more medical resources to come back to Michigan. Money and talent go to where they’re treated with the most respect, which is why people are leaving the state of Michigan and going to low tax, low regulation, high trust states.
BENSON: I’ve been proud to be the only candidate running for governor that has released a comprehensive health care affordability and access agenda that, among other things, supports health care workforce development in a way that would expand programs and scholarships for anyone pursuing medical careers, and create tax and loan forgiveness incentives to make it affordable for doctors and nurses and other healthcare workers to build their lives in Michigan’s highest need communities.
If elected, what else would you do to improve the lives of older Michiganders and their families?
JAMES: I really very much believe that self-determination is something that was given to us by our creator, and the things that the government does to take that away from us are wrong. I’m going to be working to make sure that our seniors aren’t forced into situations that are contrary to how they wish to live their lives and making sure they have every tool and resource at their disposal to live lives with the dignity that they’ve earned and next to the families that they’ve built.
BENSON: The bottom line is we have to reduce costs for Michiganders, including our oldest citizens, and recognize that we need to reform our agencies, like the Department of Health and Human Services, to be active advocates for Michiganders and help them challenge anyone who puts profits over people so that they can maintain their access to care and coverage.
I also want to continue to engage seniors, just as I’ve done as Secretary of State, in driving the policies of our state, whether it’s health care affordability, housing affordability or increased transit.
For more about the candidates go to jocelynbenson.com and johnjamesmi.com.
As a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, AARP does not endorse candidates or make political donations.
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