Politics / Law
Jocelyn Benson
born 1977 · lawyer, law school dean, Michigan secretary of state
Election-law scholar who came to Detroit to clerk for Judge Damon Keith, became the youngest woman to lead an accredited law school at Wayne State, and has been Michigan's secretary of state since 2019.
- Born
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
age 48- Birth name
- Jocelyn Michelle Benson
- Detroit years
- 2000s–
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Jocelyn Benson grew up in Pittsburgh, studied at Wellesley, at Oxford as a Marshall Scholar and at Harvard Law School, and moved to Detroit after law school to clerk for Sixth Circuit Judge Damon Keith. She stayed, joining the faculty of Wayne State University Law School in 2005 and founding the Michigan Center for Election Law. In 2012, at 36, she was named dean of Wayne Law, the youngest woman ever to lead an accredited American law school. She ran unsuccessfully for secretary of state in 2010, left the deanship in 2016 to head the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality, and in 2018 won the office, the first Democrat to hold it since 1995. She oversaw the expansion of voting by mail approved by voters that year and defended Michigan's 2020 presidential results against challenges, and was re-elected by a record margin in 2022. A Detroit resident, she is the Democratic nominee for governor of Michigan in 2026.
Highlights
- 43rd Michigan secretary of state since 2019
- Dean of Wayne State University Law School, 2012–2016
- Youngest woman to lead an accredited U.S. law school
- Law clerk to Judge Damon Keith in Detroit
- Democratic nominee for governor of Michigan (2026)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 2005–2016
Wayne State University Law School
She taught here from 2005 and served as dean from 2012 to 2016.