Democrat Jocelyn Benson appears to have topped Republican Mary Treder Lang in the race to be Michigan Secretary of State. The Associated Press projects Benson to be the winner as she holds a 52-44 percent lead with 90 percent of precincts reporting as of 5 a.m.
"I'm ready and I will not let you down," Benson said at a Democratic gathering Tuesday night in Detroit as the outcome was still undecided. "The people of Michigan deserve a Secretary of State who works as hard as you do."
The two were battled to replace term-limited Republican Ruth Johnson.
Republicans have held the office since 1995, after Candice Miller defeated Richard Austin, who'd held the post for the 24 years prior.
The secretary is Michigan's chief elections officer and is responsible for processing driver's licenses and maintaining the repository of state records, among other things.
Benson, 40, of Detroit is a graduate of Harvard Law School who clerked for U.S. District Judge Damon Keith on the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. She ran for Secretary of State in 2010, losing 51 percent to 45 percent to Johnson, who was precluded from running again.
Benson, a married mother of one, had been dean of Wayne State University Law School before leaving the university to head the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality. She wrote a book on the role of secretary of state and made decreasing wait times at secretary of state offices a centerpiece of her campaign.
Treder Lang, 58, a certified public accountant from Grosse Pointe Farms, is on a leave of absence from Vista Maria, a nonprofit that provides treatment programs for adolescent girls.
She touted her business credentials from a variety of management positions with companies such as SBC/Ameritech and Siemens AG.
Contact John Wisely: 313-222-6825 or jwisely@freepress.com. On Twitter @jwisely. Free Press staff writers Paul Egan and David Jesse contributed to this report.
