India, Nov. 2 -- Michigan's 2026 governor's race has placed Jocelyn Benson in a familiar position of defending the mechanisms of American democracy while advancing her argument that she can manage the state itself. The 48-year-old democrat has spent most of her professional life in election law and civil rights, but her campaign is focused on issues far removed from the ballot on affordability, jobs, healthcare, education, housing and Michigan's place in an increasingly tech-driven economy.

The daughter of two special education teachers, Benson grew up in a middle-class household before studying at Wellesley College, Oxford and Harvard Law School. She went on to become a civil-rights lawyer and, at 35, became dean of Wayne State Universi...