LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — Michigan’s lieutenant governor is supposed to preside over the Senate. In 2025, Garlin Gilchrist II rarely did.

Gilchrist presided over just five of the Senate’s 80 session days last year—about 6%—according to a review by The Detroit News. That attendance rate is the lowest recorded for a Michigan lieutenant governor in at least two decades.

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Traditionally, Michigan lieutenant governors regularly preside over the Senate, even when their role is largely ceremonial. Gilchrist’s absences stand out not only for their frequency, but for how sharply they diverge from that norm.

By comparison, former Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Calley—often cited as a low-attendance benchmark—was present for 59% of session days in 2013 and 61% in 2014, even while taking classes at Harvard. In 2018, his final year in office, Calley presided over 82% of session days while running for governor.

Gilchrist’s office declined to comment on his attendance record.

Senate journals show Gilchrist called the chamber to order just three times in 2025 and appeared briefly on two other occasions. Official calendars released by the governor’s office show dozens of weekdays with no listed events or only “staff calls,” including several days when the Senate was in session.

The Senate filled the chair in Gilchrist’s absence as he spent much of 2025 campaigning for governor before shifting in January to a run for secretary of state.