(The Center Square) – Just one week after she launched her campaign for Michigan’s attorney general, Karen McDonald announced she has already raised more than $500,000.
“The Attorney General serves as the peoples’ lawyer,” said McDonald, who is currently serving as Oakland County prosecutor. “I’m thrilled that so many people have responded and are supporting my vision for an attorney general who is ready to take on the tough fights we have ahead of us, protect our freedoms, uphold the law and keep our communities safe.”
The seat is currently held by Democrat Dana Nessel, who is term-limited. The election will be in November 2026 and is already setting up to be a competitive one.
Currently, McDonald is joined in the race by fellow Democrats Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit and former federal prosecutor Mark Totten. Just one Republican, Kevin Kijewski, has thrown his hat in.
Each party will narrow its candidates down to one at party conventions in the fall of 2026.
So far, while McDonald seems to have the edge on fundraising since first launching her campaign in June, Savit has received a number of significant endorsements from state party leadership.
Those endorsements include former Michigan Democratic Party Chair candidate Lavora Barnes and former Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court Conrad Mallett.
The shift of Michigan’s state leadership to Democrats was a recent one, with the attorney general seat being held by a Republican as recently as 2018 when Nessel first won the seat.
That shift seems more than just a short-lived trend though. In fact, Democrats are only widening the margins in state elections.
While Nessel won the election by less than 3% in 2018, by 2022 she had widened the margin between herself and the Republican in the attorney general election to nearly 10%. That election marked the best performance by a Democrat since 1998, and the worst performance by a Republican since 2002.
Nessel brought in a total of $5.4 million throughout the 2022 election season, meaning McDonald raised in the first week of her campaign nearly 10% of the total amount Nessel raised in her whole 2022 campaign.
While all four candidates are currently listed by the Michigan Department of State, campaign finance information is not yet available.
In the 2026 election, Michigan will also be voting on its top three executive positions – governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state.
All three of those are currently held by Democrats, as is the state Senate.
