Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said she thinks Gov. Gretchen Whitmer should call a special election to fill the 35th state Senate district seat, which includes the cities of Midland, Bay City, Saginaw and portions of the Great Lakes Bay Region.
The district has been without representation in the state Senate since the beginning of the year after U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City) resigned to join Congress.
“I think that she should call the election. I’ve thought that for quite some time,” Nessel told WCMU shortly after speaking at a No Kings rally in Midland on Saturday. “I think that the people of that Senate district deserve to be represented.”
Democrats in the state Senate currently hold a one-seat majority in the chamber at 19-18. A GOP victory in the 35th district special election would make Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist the tiebreaking vote on legislation going into the final year-and-a-half of Whitmer’s time in office.
Whitmer has repeatedly said she intends to call the special election but has yet to provide a timeline.
On Jan. 31, Whitmer told WCMU at the Northern Michigan Policy Conference that her legal team is looking at possible election dates and that they would be coming to her with recommendations “in the coming weeks.”
While visiting an emergency shelter in Gaylord on April 3 in the aftermath of the historic ice storm, Whitmer told WCMU there would be a special election “at some point” and that she hadn’t made a decision yet.
This is longest period Whitmer has waited to call a special elections during her tenure as governor. According to an analysis from Michigan’s Independent Source of News and Information (MIRS), the average period Whitmer has waited is 17 days. As of Monday morning, the district has been without representation since Jan. 3, or 201 days.
On Saturday in Midland, Michigan State Board of Education President Pamela Pugh, a Democrat, said she plans to run for the 35th district, making her the first candidate to declare her intentions to run.
“We have not publicly announced, but yes I am,” Pugh said. “We have not launched, but, yes, we have a campaign committee.”
Pugh ran for the Democratic Party’s nomination for the 8th Congressional District in 2024 but was defeated by McDonald Rivet after receiving 20.3% of the vote.
“We are expecting the race to be called anytime,” Pugh said. “The taxpayers are paying for representation; however, I know that the governor has a lot of things she’s probably taking into consideration that I don’t see.”
During the Detroit Regional Chamber’s annual Mackinac Policy Conference in May, Gilchrist, who is running for governor in 2026, said voters in the 35th district are “ready” for a special election. He also said the decision rests squarely on the shoulders of the governor, as the state constitution outlines.
“I think that people are certainly ready for it,” Gilchrist told the Detroit News. “I’ve spent time in the district. They’re ready.”
Polling shows that the special election will likely be a toss-up. In 2022, the last time an election was held for the seat, McDonald Rivet defeated Republican Annette Glenn 53%-47%. President Donald Trump carried the 8th Congressional District, which includes the 35th, in the 2024 election by two percentage points.
“We know this is a competitive seat,” said Senate Minority Leader and 2026 gubernatorial candidate Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Township) during an interview with WCMU in February. “The Republicans can win, and the governor, for purely political reasons, is trying to prevent us from having representation in this district."
Although Republicans in both chambers have repeatedly called on Whitmer to declare the special election, no one from the GOP has officially announced their intention to run if the election is called.
In recent weeks, the Republican-led state House has sent a variety of bills off to the state Senate. They include: a new education budget, restrictions on transgender high school athletes and bills that would undo clean energy zoning regulations in the state.
Additionally, House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp.) has been embroiled in a lawsuit with Michigan state Senate Democrats. The suit is over Republicans holding off on sending nine bills passed during the previous Democratic-controlled state Senate to the governor.
Last week, Representative Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland) introduced a bill in the state House that would require special elections to be held no less than 60 days after they're called, and no later than 180 days after a seat becomes vacant.
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
