Head to Head – What They're Running On

Cut the personal income tax to the 3% range starting in year one, matching Indiana and Ohio. Michigan's flat rate is 4.25%. Has also talked about eliminating it and offsetting the loss by cutting "wasteful spending."

Would review how the state raises revenue, aiming for a "fair and equitable" system. Promises targeted breaks: a $5,000 credit for long-term caregivers and a tax cut for parents covering childcare.

Supports suspending the state gas tax immediately.

Said for the first time she is open to suspending the state gas tax.

Points to his Patients Deserve Price Tags Act (price transparency). Voted for the 2025 budget bill, which cut Medicaid and SNAP and let enhanced ACA subsidies lapse, per Benson's claims.

Says she has an affordability plan, including lower prescription drug prices. Attacks James as the one who "went to Washington to raise your healthcare costs."

Says Trump has two years left while the next governor could serve up to eight, and that he can manage the state's relationship with the White House.

Says James backs Trump's policies, including economic ones she calls bad. Tariffs were debated, but neither candidate's position was reported in the coverage I read.

Cites Michigan's ranking of 44th in fourth-grade literacy and 45th overall, and says Benson wants the status quo.

Says improving public education is her top priority. Wants to end "one-size-fits-all" school funding. Points to her teaching background.

Backs a moratorium but says it would apply to Lansing only, not communities. His five points: more local control, no electric bill increases, protect water, prevent pollution, and favor brownfield sites over farmland. Claims Benson and her husband pushed a Saline data center over local farmland opposition and received $370,000.

Supports a moratorium on new data centers until safeguards protect water, limit electricity cost increases and give communities a voice. Claims James bought data center stock in Congress, then backed tax breaks for them.

Parents' "bill of rights" plan (Feb 2026): ban transgender girls from girls' sports; block what he calls a State Board of Education "gender insanity agenda" on teaching gender identity; schools and doctors couldn't withhold information from parents, including on gender identity; parental consent for all minors' medical treatment. When asked, he said transgender athletes are "absolutely not" central to his agenda and has stressed literacy. A voter guide says he voted in Congress to bar transgender students from girls' sports and to criminalize gender-affirming care for minors (secondary source, unverified).

I did not find her stated position on girls' sports or gender-affirming care in reliable coverage. Her spokeswoman called James's press event on transgender athletes a "weird political stunt." Check her campaign site for her own words.

Says Democrats have held power for about eight years without improving lives: weaker test scores, fewer jobs, young people leaving for Republican-led states.

Concedes Democrats "haven't done enough" and calls for bolder action and more transparent agencies.

Not covered in the debate coverage I could read. See the abortion record on the main page.

Not covered in the debate coverage I could read.

Tax cuts for working families and a manufacturing revival, including shop classes in every high school. Blames Democratic state and federal policies and energy standards for high energy costs.

Wants a wealth tax on the highest earners, ending corporate tax breaks, tougher anti-monopoly enforcement and more union membership. Wants lower utility costs.

Tax-free 529 withdrawals for first-time homebuyer down payments, rolling back housing regulations, and incentives for homebuilders.

Pledges to take on corporations, hedge funds and speculators he says drive up housing costs.

Expand the TrumpRx program to cut drug costs. Penalties for providers and insurers that don't publish itemized prices or unfairly deny care. Opposed the ACA and opposed extending the enhanced premium tax credits. Blames the original law for rate hikes. His Medicaid position wasn't stated in Bridge Michigan's coverage.

Favors "Medicare for All" single-payer coverage for all U.S. residents, while letting workers keep supplemental private insurance from unions or employers. His Medicaid position wasn't stated in the same coverage.

Position not stated in the coverage I found.

Favors a "steady, thoughtful and targeted" tariff approach.

Vows to "stand with" the president. Bridge Michigan says he has repeated some of Trump's 2020 election claims, which it calls false.

Calls Rogers a "rubber stamp" for what Trump wants.

Defends Trump's immigration strategy. Critical of the congressional fight over funding the Department of Homeland Security. Said he would vote for the SAVE Act (proof of citizenship to vote).

Calls for abolishing ICE, describing its agents as a "paramilitary force."

Says "we need to take a pause." Told The Detroit News he'd support a one-year moratorium on new data centers.

Supports public ownership of AI and regulating AI firms like utilities, with binding terms on electric rates, reliability and clean energy, plus penalties.

Courting Jewish and Democratic voters, with a "Democrats for Mike Rogers" coalition. Backed by more than $45 million from the Senate Leadership Fund.

Critic of U.S. aid to the Israeli government and of AIPAC. Campaigns on getting "money out of politics."

Opposes transgender participation in girls' and women's sports, framed as a Title IX fairness issue; his campaign ad says El-Sayed thinks "men playing in women's sports is good." Record from his House years (per advocacy and partisan sources, so verify): defended efforts to ban same-sex marriage in 2004 and in 2006 said he would back a constitutional amendment; voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (2007), against repealing "don't ask, don't tell" (2010), and against adding sexual orientation and gender identity to hate crime law. I did not find his current position on same-sex marriage.

Presents himself as an LGBTQ ally and supports gender-affirming care, saying those decisions belong to the patient, parent and doctor. Has no legislative record and few statements on specific laws. HRC endorsed him. The GOP has criticized his Oct 2026 remark describing himself as "cis straight" (Breitbart).

See the voting history on the main page. Democratic groups' claims about his bills are labeled there as partisan.

Reproductive Freedom for All endorsed him, and his campaign is running ads on the issue.