How does government work in Michigan?

What may surprise you here

• The lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general are nominated by party conventions, not in the primary. source
• Supreme Court justices and judges of other courts of record are elected on nonpartisan ballots. source
• Michigan has 1,240 township governments, more than its 533 municipal governments. source

Legislature

Name

Michigan Legislature source

Senate: seats

38 source

Senate: term in years

4 source

House of Representatives: seats

110 source

House of Representatives: term in years

2 source

Term limits

12 years total in the legislature, in either or both chambers (as amended in 2022) source

Structure set by: Michigan Constitution of 1963, Article IV, Sections 1 to 3.

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years

4 source

Term limit

Cannot be elected more than two times source

Next regular election

2030 source

Lieutenant governor

joint ticket source

Attorney general

elected source

Attorney general’s term in years

4 source

Secretary of state

elected source

Secretary of state’s term in years

4 source

Courts

Highest court

Michigan Supreme Court source

Intermediate appeals court

Michigan Court of Appeals source

Main trial court

Circuit Court source

How high-court judges reach the bench

nonpartisan election source

Local government

Called

county source

How many

83 source

Cities and towns

Michigan has 533 municipal governments and 1,240 township governments, so many residents live in a township rather than a city. source

Schools

The Census Bureau counts 567 independent school district governments in Michigan. source

Elections

Chief election official

Secretary of State source

Who runs elections locally

Local election officials, supervised by the Secretary of State source

Primary type

open source

Regular governor elections fall in

even source

Citizen initiatives

yes source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Gretchen Whitmer DDemocratic, in office since January 1, 2019. source

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Sources