LANSING, Mich. - On Monday, the Democratic candidate for governor Gretchen Whitmer announced her running mate would be Garlin Gilchrist II, a Detroit activist.
Here's everything you need to know about Gilchrist ahead of the Nov. 6 elections:
- His background is in progressive politics and computer programming — he used to work for Microsoft, was a political organizer for the left-wing MoveOn.org and managed social media for Barack Obama's first presidential campaign.
- Gilchrist ran for City Clerk in 2017 and was endorsed by a range of left-leaning groups, including Our Revolution, which grew out of Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 2016 presidential run.
- He lost his run for City Clerk by 1,482 votes, out of nearly 100,000 ballots, but out-raised his incumbent opponent more than 10 to 1. Most of his funds came from small-dollar donations.
- Before that, he ran Detroit's Innovation & Emerging Technology department.The announcement comes five days before both the Republican and Democratic parties hold their summer conventions to officially nominate candidates for lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state Supreme Court, state Board of Education and the boards governing University of Michigan and Michigan State and Wayne State universities.
- Gilchrist now serves as the executive director of the Center for Social Media Responsibility at the University of Michigan.
- He grew up in Detroit and graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in computer science.
- He is 35 years old and has a wife, Ellen, and a twin son and daughter.
- Gilchrist is the only black person and the only man on the statewide Democratic ticket.
- He is expected to be officially nominated at the party's State Nominating Convention on Sunday.
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