Garlin Gilchrist II, the first Black person elected as Michigan’s lieutenant governor, is throwing his hat in the 2026 race for governor, telling theGrio exclusively that he plans to take the state to “the next level.”
“We are at a generational inflection point,” said Gilchrist, a former engineer and tech entrepreneur who left the private sector to be a community organizer and later political aid before he was tapped by Gretchen Whitmer to be her running mate in 2018.
If elected in 2026, Gilchrist would become Michigan’s first Black governor and only the fourth Black person elected as a state executive officer. He would follow in the footsteps of the historically elected former Govs. Douglas Wilder in Virginia (1989), Deval Patrick in Massachusetts (2006) and Wes Moore in Maryland (2022). Gilchrist told theGrio he considers all three historic Black governors as mentors and supporters who have helped model “what it means to be a public servant at the state level, what it means to be a statewide executive, and what it means to be responsive to people.”
The 42-year-old says his unique lens as a young Black man and experience in the tech industry is just what the Wolverine State needs at this moment. Growing up in Detroit, Gilchrist said his community empowered him to see his “potential.” Reflecting on the historic nature of his candidacy, he shared, “I think having a Black governor would further shatter that ceiling to understand that anything is possible.”
Gilchrist’s run for governor comes at a pivotal time as governments grapple with the expansion of technology and its impact on the American economy. The millennial leader and former Microsoft software engineer told theGrio, “Technology is changing. The way that people understand and process and receive and interpret information is changing.”
He explained, “When I took office here, Tiktok was a music app. Nobody knew what a large language model was in 2018. It’s important that we have leadership that is able to respond to those times.” Gilchrist added, “I think having an engineer in his mid-40s who’s a two-time entrepreneur who started and sold two technology companies is the appropriate profile for a leader at this moment.”
As lieutenant governor, Gilchrist has traveled to all 83 counties multiple times. During his travels around the state, he talked to constituents and learned what Michiganders say they need most from state government — things like lowering the cost of living, affordable housing, and access to health care. Gilchrist told theGrio, “That’s what led me to do the work that I’ve done alongside Governor Gretchen Whitmer to lay a really strong foundation for the future.”
In a campaign video announcing his campaign on Tuesday, Gilchrist touted his efforts to create Michigan’s “Clean Slate” criminal justice program and launch the Michigan Innovation Fund to encourage startup investments in the state. The husband and father of three said, “I’m committed to building an economy where every family has what they need to succeed.”
The gubernatorial hopeful says he wants to build on the work of the Whitmer-Gilchrist administration in laying a foundation to grow Michigan’s economy, which includes diversifying the technology industry. But his push for diversity and his historic candidate profile comes as President Donald Trump’s new administration in Washington, D.C., has rolled back diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. The 47th president of the United States has threatened to withhold federal dollars from governors, schools, and private companies that do not mirror his administration’s anti-“woke” priorities.
Gilchrist told theGrio that he is willing to use the Michigan governorship to go up against what he called the “Trump-Musk administration” — a reference to the outsized role of billionaire Tesla, X, and Space X owner Elon Musk, who is serving as a senior advisor to Trump and head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. The executive department has led the Trump administration’s efforts (seemingly unilaterally at times) to eliminate federal funding waste or fraud.
As the son of a father who served as a federal contractor for the Department of Defense and a mother who retired at General Motors, Gilchrist said the Trump administration’s arbitrary cuts to thousands of federal jobs and tariff battles with countries like Canada, Mexico and China are “deeply personal and offensive.”
“Had Musk and Trump been in power during my dad’s 34-year career with the federal government, they could have destroyed my family’s livelihood,” said Gilchrist. He continued, “Those tariffs would have been catastrophic, not just for our family, but for the whole supply chain and value chain that has a huge presence in the state of Michigan.”
Gilchrist said the new administration has caused “nothing but chaos, confusion and calamity for individuals, for communities and for businesses in the state of Michigan, where our large manufacturers and our growing companies look for stability and competence.” He added, “I’m an engineer; I solve problems — I don’t create them.”
Reflecting on his six years serving alongside Gov. Whitmer — who is often mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in the 2028 election — Gilchrist said he’s “gained a tremendous amount.” He told theGrio, “We think we’ve set the state of Michigan up for success.”
“She’s encouraged me to build on that foundation and to do so in my own way,” said the lieutenant governor, who noted that he and Whitmer are “different people” and he’s “stepping up at a different time.”
“The world was different in 2018 than it is here in 2025,” said Gilchrist. “She’s been encouraging, and I appreciate that, and now I’m ready to go and have a different conversation with people in Michigan about how I can work with them going forward.”