Michigan’s 2026 primary election is on Aug. 4. Michigan will elect a new governor this fall. In the primary, voters will choose the nominees who will appear in the November election.
As part of Michigan Public's Election 2026 coverage, Morning Edition is featuring a series of interviews with the major-party candidates for governor.
Chris Swanson is one of the Democratic candidates. Swanson is currently the Genesee County sheriff. He spoke with Morning Edition host Doug Tribou.
Doug Tribou: What will your top three priorities be if you're elected governor?
Chris Swanson: Three tenets: protect, serve, and unify. Now specifically, we're doing an audit at Huron Valley. We're making sure that we have an Epstein file open to give any victims in Michigan a voice. And we're doing a moratorium on all DTE and Consumers [Energy] rate hikes for the state of Michigan for six months till we figure it all out.
DT: You have been critical of the approach taken by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — or ICE — during the second Trump administration. As governor, how would your administration respond to the mass deportation efforts being carried out by the Trump administration?
CS: I'm critical, after 34 years of being in law enforcement and serving as the sheriff, because that's not how we do business. So as governor, no masks in Michigan law enforcement. I can't control what the feds do. But I can tell you in Michigan, you're going to know you're dealing with law enforcement. We identify ourselves for a reason. Our public trust is hard to build and easy to lose. The whole ICE model is dysfunctional, and it can't exist or sustain.
DT: One of the most hotly contested topics in Michigan and across the U.S. right now is the construction of large-scale data centers. If elected governor, how would you approach data center projects and potential legislation about them?
CS: I am a union-endorsed candidate. They want to build projects in labor, but they don't want to build projects that are going to harm the environment, drain the energy grid, or have protests from local communities.
So, we do things right. We listen to the people. We divide the state in three colors: yellow, red, and green. Yellow means there's infrastructure and there's a desire for any kind of technology or manufacturing. There's a red zone, which is no infrastructure and no desire for any kind of development. Just leave those communities alone. Green, of course, is infrastructure below and above grade. Data centers have not had that. And that's why we have so much upheaval and we've got to settle the guardrails. And there's got to be truth and transparency. What are we paying for, what are we getting, and what do we need?
DT: One of the common themes that I have seen in our newscasts, in our reporting, and interviews over my years here at Michigan Public is the push-pull between state and local authority. How do you see that factoring in to the data center projects? You're talking about grading communities on color. Who's setting those grades? And when we're respecting local control, does the state not weigh in with some overarching regulation in your view of it?
CS: I talked to the Michigan Municipal League, and you have got city managers and mayors and township supervisors that are fighting for funds that their taxpayers give to the state, but that revenue sharing is not coming back. They don't want somebody to come into their community who's never been there.
I think the state has a great position to help local communities, but not as an adversarial relationship, as an ally relationship. And that's what you're going to get with me. I work with people and we get it done. We may not always see eye to eye, but we're going to be able to work together and not just, again, jam it down the throats of locals.
DT: We have seen a lot of debate over what the state should or should not do to help attract and keep businesses in Michigan. One major point of contention is the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and its taxpayer-funded spending on private businesses. In your view, what does Michigan need to do to develop and maintain high-quality, high-paying jobs?
CS: There is a distrust in how MEDC delivers funds. There are great projects, but when you see the controversy that's there now, how did that happen? How is it that lawmakers signed [non-disclosure agreements] so they don't talk about it?
At the MEDC level, you get the money and then you do the work. That's why we're doing a complete audit at MEDC. That's your money and my money. And if it's going to waste, if people are just getting gifted with no accountability, then we're not doing what that fund and that idea is meant to do and that is to grow the economy.
The state can be a partner right now in any business. I'm a business owner registered at the Small Business Association of Michigan. When I see a 517 number come in, I ask myself, what did I do wrong and how much more do they want out of my tax?
DT: Just to be clear, when you're talking about the 517 area code, you're talking about calls coming from the Lansing area?
CS: That's correct.
DT: And so what's your business?
CS: My wife is the CO. They buy Amazon and Target liquidated truckloads and they break them down into different categories. And then from there, we sell them to e-commerce and those that are working in stores. We call them bin stores.
I used to have an assisted living home. We had that for two years. I had an entertainment business in inflatables. We had that for ten years, sold it, bought it back. Man, it's tough doing business in Michigan and it's tough being a business owner. It shouldn't be.
DT: Two leaders of the Michigan State Police, specifically the director, Col. James Grady and Lt. Col. Amy Brimacombe, were sharply criticized in a Michigan House Oversight Committee report released earlier this year. The report said they'd created a toxic environment within the state police. They also received a no-confidence vote from two professional organizations last year. Governor Whitmer has stood by Grady, whom she appointed. Would you keep the current leadership in place at MSP?
CS: I am not in those conversations, but I hear from the group that are the state police, the same thing that you just reported. But no disrespect, because I'm not in those conversations, like I said. But I agree, I hear it on the street. There is a breakdown between the street level and the administration. I'm not there to fix it yet, but it will be fixed.
DT: Governor Whitmer is term-limited after eight years in office. You're both prominent Democrats here in Michigan with a lot of common ground on ideology and policy. Where do you differ with the governor on policy?
CS: Our background, I mean, I'm friends with the governor, and we worked well together over the last two terms. But my path is completely different than anybody running on either side. Coming from a huge county that has gone through tremendous challenge.
We've come up with ideas and things that have gone statewide and nationwide. G.H.O.S.T. started in May of 2018. It's called Genesee Human Oppression Strike Team, and we are proactive in finding predators and people that are sex offenders coming to have sex with underage kids and vulnerable adults.
But also my education experience. I've been on faculty at the University of Michigan for 28 years. I've been a teacher in public education. And we just talked about the business owners. These are things that are different.
DT: Well, I certainly understand that you and Governor Whitmer are different people and have come to your offices through different paths, but how specifically would you differ from the governor on policy or the types of decisions you would make if you're elected?
CS: Again, I go back to our backgrounds and there's things that I have done, and I've shown that it is an easy transition into the governor's house, but it's the energy, the enthusiasm, the inspiration that I bring that's different than anybody. And, you know, I can't say that, you know, what she's doing or what I do would be completely different. I can tell you that on 1/1/27, a completely different philosophy and ideologies coming in. And that's what I can tell you is going to be different.
Editor's note: Quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity.
