LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – In her newly released memoir available today, The Purposeful Warrior: Standing Up for What’s Right When the Stakes Are High, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson offers readers an intimate look into her tenure as the state’s top election official – at the bargain price of $30.00 for the hardcover version.
The book, released under Maria Shriver’s “Open Field” publishing label, hits shelves 455 days before Michigan’s Democratic gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, and ahead of the general election on Tuesday, November 3, 2026.
Benson’s version of “what’s right” leaves election integrity advocates concerned.
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According to Benson’s past actions, her version of “standing up for what’s right” includes issuing guidance instructing election officials to presume the validity of absentee ballot signatures, not promptly cleaning up voter rolls, implementing rules limiting the activities of poll challengers, ignoring FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests, and downplaying the fact that illegal immigrants were able to easily vote in Michigan elections in 2024.
It also includes adamantly opposing the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act, which Republicans lawmakers passed in the U.S. House to ensure that only U.S. citizens are registered to vote in federal elections. About the legislation, Benson has said, “The SAVE Act is not a reasonable effort. The SAVE Act would stop millions of Americans from registering to vote by requiring voters to register in person with either a birth certificate or a U.S. passport.”
Benson recounts 2020 protest.
Benson’s book includes describing an incident in December 2020, when armed protesters gathered outside her home, challenging the certification of Michigan’s election results. It’s the kind of protest usually reserved for Democrat-backed events like the ones on the lawns of the University of Michigan regents by pro-Palestinian protesters and those who showed up in front of the homes of Republican- appointed Supreme Court justices in response to the leaked draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which indicated the Court’s intention to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Benson touts integrity while critics cite fraud, failures, and a crisis of trust.
The description of the book on Amazon and other bookselling sites includes describing the Secretary of State overseeing “several of the highest turnout, most secure elections in the state’s history” and fighting for “integrity and truth.”
However, what Benson considers “integrity” many others call the implementation or allowance of election fraud. For example, in March of this year during testimony in front of the state’s House Election Integrity Committee, Detroit community leaders presented information alleging systemic voter fraud in Detroit’s election systems.
Speaker Pro Tem Rachelle Smit (R-Martin), Chair of the Election Integrity Committee, said, “These reports and claims are very concerning, especially since we are repeatedly told that our elections are completely safe and secure. If these claims are accurate, and the scale and scope are this bad, then Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel clearly aren’t doing their jobs, and they’re failing the people of Michigan.”
Transparency failures.
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Although Benson often boasts about transparency, her record on producing documents after receiving FOIA requests is dismal. Recently, she even had to be subpoenaed before she would release requested election training materials.
Then there’s Benson’s $9.3 million attempt to “modernize” Michigan’s campaign finance disclosure system which has failed miserably so far, rendering the state’s transparency portal nearly useless. The new Michigan Transparency Network was supposed to improve public access to donation data, but instead, it removed basic search functions – like sorting by donor name, employer, or contribution amount. Transparency advocates and political consultants say the stripped-down system makes it harder to track political spending. In response, House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) is demanding an Oversight Committee investigation into how the funds were spent and why the rollout failed.
Benson leads the early field in the Democratic primary for governor.
Amid what many see as Benson’s failings as Michigan’s Secretary of State, she has nevertheless decided to run for governor of the Great Lakes State. On the Democratic side of things, she’s currently up against Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson. So far, according to a Mitchell Research & Communications poll done on March 13, Benson is ahead with 46% support to Gilchrist’s 13% and Swanson’s 11%.
Benson tells Michigan Advance Editor Jon King in an interview about her book, “When I became secretary of state I had two goals: to increase voter turnout in our state across the board and to reduce wait times in our office. Everything we do is aligned with that and it means also being willing to take things apart and build them back again in a better or different way, which we did with our branch offices to achieve those goals.”
Those increased voters included at least 15 illegal immigrants that we know of during the Michigan November 2024 election but with Benson’s office stalling on another FOIA request about where those non-citizens voted and a full accounting of voters who didn’t produce driver’s licenses, it’s anyone’s guess how many illegal immigrants actually voted in Michigan’s elections last year.
According to Just the News, Benson’s office only examined voter records tied to Michigan driver’s licenses – excluding anyone who registered with other IDs or none at all. Critics argue this narrow scope masks the real number of illegal aliens on the rolls and reveals that Michigan isn’t verifying voter citizenship.
Memoir or marketing?
While Benson and her supporters are likely to frame Purposeful Warrior as the inspiring tale of a woman bravely defending democracy, critics see it as a strategic rebrand – a glossy campaign brochure disguised as a memoir, aimed at scrubbing her record clean before voters get a closer look in 2026.
