(SAUGATUCK) – Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox on Tuesday entered the 2026 Governor’s Race.

Cox is adding his name to a growing field of Republicans vying to succeed term-limited Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Cox served as attorney general from 2003 to 2011. He launched a gubernatorial bid near the end of his second term, eventually coming in third in the Republican primary. Cox is hoping for a different outcome this time around, launching a bid Tuesday that he said will “Make Michigan Great Again.”

Cox joins Michigan Senate Republican Leader Aric Nesbitt and U.S. Representative John James in the Republican primary. On the Democratic side, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II are facing off, with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, formerly a Democrat, running as an independent.

Cox served as a U.S. Marine Corps infantry rifleman before becoming a prosecutor, according to his campaign website. He defeated Democratic Senator Gary Peters in 2002 to become the state's first Republican attorney general in over 40 years.