Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit announced this week that he’s running for Michigan attorney general in the 2026 election.
He is currently serving his second term as county prosecutor, after first being elected in 2020 and re-elected in 2024.
Savit said his campaign will focus on cracking down on corporate polluters and consumer scams, fighting wage theft to protect workers' rights, and pushing back against funding cuts and what he described as constitutional overreach by President Donald Trump.
"I will, as attorney general, take on anybody who is breaking the law and is harming Michiganders. Right now, I think we need to be real about this: A lot of harm is coming out of the current administration," Savit told Michigan Public.
He said his experience as a county prosecutor sets him apart from other candidates.
"The attorney general really needs to be a position where we fight for the people—even against the most powerful," he said. "That’s what I’ve done throughout my career, and that’s what I’m prepared to do as attorney general. I believe that’s what sets me apart."
Former federal prosecutor Mark Totten is also in the race for the Democratic nomination for attorney general. On the Republican side, Birmingham attorney Kevin Kijewski is also running.
Ember McCoy, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan and member of the pro-Palestinian Tahrir Coalition, voiced concerns about Savit's candidacy based on the coalition’s past interactions with his office.
"Eli Savit ran as a 'progressive prosecutor' in Washtenaw County, but I think it's clear that he's betrayed his campaign promises multiple times," McCoy said, citing Savit's authorizing charges against four Tahrir Coalition activists who were arrested as police cleared a demonstration in solidarity with Gaza at the Alexander G. Ruthven Building where they had tried to meet with then-university President Santa Ono to call for divestment of the U of M endowment from companies with ties to Israel. (The Board of Regents said last May U of M had no direct investments in Israeli companies, but said it had less than 1% of the overall endowment indirectly invested in Israeli companies.)
McCoy also pointed to Savit's office's charging of a 16-year-old as an adult in a murder case despite his support for legislation that gave prosecutors more latitude to keep juvenile defendants out of the adult criminal justice system.
When asked how he would handle demonstrators if elected to be the state's top prosecutor, Savit said he respects the right to protest.
"I've been at a lot of protests. Some stuff does, of course, cross the line. It needs to be charged. But we'll handle it fairly. We'll handle it appropriately."
"We understand that young people are going to make mistakes, and we try, whether it's protest-related activity or not... not to saddle young people with criminal records that are going to follow them around," Savit said. "If you make a mistake, if you take accountability, maybe you do some community service, let's move on with your life. Let's give you an opportunity to have a clear criminal record."
