Former state Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D) defeated Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette (R) and four other candidates in the general election on November 6, 2018, for Michigan's governorship. Activist Garlin Gilchrist II (D) was Whitmer's running mate, while state Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons (R) was Schuette's running mate.

Michigan came under divided government in the 2018 elections as Democrats won the governor's office and Republicans held the state legislature. Heading into the election, Michigan had been a Republican trifecta since 2010 when Republicans took control of the Michigan House of Representatives and the governorship and maintained control of the Michigan State Senate.

The winner of this election stood to influence the state's redistricting process following the 2020 census. Under Michigan state law, the state Legislature is responsible for drawing new maps for U.S. House and state legislative seats following the completion of the census. The governor has the power to veto these district map proposals.

Incumbent Gov. Rick Snyder (R), who was term-limited, was first elected in 2010 by 18.2 percentage points and re-elected in 2014 by 4.0 percentage points. Snyder was the only Republican to win a gubernatorial or U.S. Senate election in Michigan from 2000 to 2017. Donald Trump (R) won Michigan in the 2016 presidential election by 0.2 percentage points. He was the first Republican to win Michigan since George H.W. Bush in 1988. Of the past ten gubernatorial elections in Michigan, four have resulted in the seat changing hands. The last time a Michigan gubernatorial election was won by a candidate who shares a party with the outgoing incumbent was in 1968 when William Milliken (R) was elected to succeed George Romney (R).

Michigan was one of 36 states that held an election for governor in 2018. Democrats gained seven previously Republican-held seats, and Republicans gained one previously independent-held seat. Heading into the 2018 elections, there were 16 Democratic governors, 33 Republican governors, and one independent governor. In 2018, 26 of the 33 states with a Republican governor held a gubernatorial election, while nine out of the 16 states with a Democratic governor held a gubernatorial election. Seventeen of the 36 seats up for election were open seats (four Democratic, 12 Republican, and one independent), meaning that the sitting governor was not seeking re-election.

Third party candidates who ran included Jennifer Kurland (G), Bill Gelineau (L), Keith Butkovich (Natural Law), and Todd Schleiger (U.S. Taxpayers).

Polls

Michigan Governor 2018

Poll	Poll sponsor	Gretchen Whitmer	Bill Schuette	Undecided/Other	Margin of error	Sample size
Mitchell Research & Communications (Nov. 4, 2018)	N/A	54%	40%	6%	+/-3.7	701
Target Insyght (Oct. 22-24, 2018)	N/A	48%	44%	8%	+/-3.0	800
Glengariff Group Inc. (Oct. 25-27, 2018)	The Detroit News and WDIV	50%	38%	12%	+/-4.0	600
Mitchell Research and Communications (Oct. 25, 2018)	N/A	48%	43%	9%	+/-5.0	400
EPIC-MRA (Oct. 18-23, 2018)	Detroit Free Press, WLNS-TV 6, WOOD-TV 8, WJRT-TV 12	46%	41%	13%	+/-4.0	600
ALG Research (Oct. 15-21, 2018)	Whitmer campaign	47%	36%	17%	+/-3.3	906
Marketing Resource Group (Oct. 14-18, 2018)	N/A	50%	36%	14%	+/-4.0	600
Mitchell Research & Communications (September 30-Oct. 7, 2018)	The Michigan Chamber of Commerce	46%	38%	16%	+/-3.8	654
Glengariff Group Inc. (September 20-Oct. 2, 2018)	The Detroit News and WDIV	47%	35%	18%	+/-4.0	600
EPIC-MRA (September 21-25, 2018)	The Detroit Free Press, WLNS TV 6, WOOD TV, and WJRT TV 12	45%	37%	18%	+/-4.0	600
Ipsos Public Affairs (September 14-21, 2018)	Thomson Reuters/University of Virginia	52%	31%	26%	+/-3.3	1,150
Mitchell Research and Communications (September 12-13, 2018)	MIRS	48%	38%	14%	+/-3.0	1,009
Target-Insyght (September 10-14, 2018)	MIRS	50%	41%	9%	+/-3.0	800
Strategic National (September 8-9, 2018)	WJML	49%	39%	12%	+/-3.1	1,000
AVERAGES		48.57%	38.36%	13.71%	+/-3.66	744.29

Michigan Governor 2018

Poll	Poll sponsor	Gretchen Whitmer	Bill Schuette	Undecided/Other	Margin of Error	Sample Size
Glengariff Group Inc. (September 5-7, 2018)	The Detroit News and WDIV-TV	50%	36%	14%	+/-4.0	400
Strategic National (August 13-14, 2018)	WJML	45%	36%	19%	+/-3.7	700

Race rating

The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Sabato's Crystal Ball. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage. Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.

Race ratings: Michigan gubernatorial election, 2018

Election history

2014

Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Michigan, 2014

Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Rick Snyder/Brian Calley Incumbent	50.9%	1,607,399
	Democratic	Mark Schauer/Lisa Brown	46.9%	1,479,057
	Libertarian	Mary Buzuma/Scott Boman	1.1%	35,723
	U.S. Taxpayers	Mark McFarlin/Richard Mendoza	0.6%	19,368
	Green	Paul Homeniuk/Candace R. Caveny	0.5%	14,934
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0%	50
Total Votes			3,156,531
Election results via Michigan Department of State

2010

Michigan Governor, 2010

Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Rick Snyder	58.1%	1,874,834
	Democratic	Virg Bernero	39.9%	1,287,320
	Libertarian	Ken Proctor	0.7%	22,390
	Taxpayers	Stacey Mathia	0.6%	20,818
	Green	Harvey Mikkelson	0.6%	20,699
	Other	Write-ins	0%	27
Total Votes			3,226,088

Demographics

Demographic data for Michigan

As of July 2016, Michigan's three largest cities were Detroit (pop. est. 673,000), Grand Rapids (pop. est. 199,000), and Warren (pop. est. 135,000).