Former Cape Coral Mayor Marni Sawicki may be relatively unknown in her bid to become governor of Michigan, but she is undaunted. Sawicki recently declared her candidacy from the state in which she was born and moved back to in 2021.
Current Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is term-limiting out and a new top official will be in place after the November 2026 election.
Candidates so far include Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson, both Democrats; Michigan Senate Republican leader Aric Nesbitt and Anthony Hudson, both Republicans; and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, entering the race as an Independent.
Sawicki, 55, is a Democrat and will run as one in the mayoral primary in August 2026.
In fact, she’s very clear about her party preference, considering the title of the memoir she wrote after leaving the Cape, “Ms. Mayor: How Republicans and My Ex-Husband Tried to Ruin My Life.”
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In it, she recounts being a victim of domestic violence while married to a man in Cape Coral and the various difficulties she had with local partisan politics. She’s married again and “this time’s a keeper,” she said.
Plenty about her Cape role prepares her for the top spot in Michigan, she said.
“I'm working with five malls throughout Michigan (as a manager), and I'm working with local government, and it's just been such a challenge working with local government,” she said. “And then I started to realize, you know, when I started to kind of look at their transparency laws and education and just their statistics here, and they're not great. So looking at currently, who's running, and knowing just what we went through in Cape Coral, I know I can bring a lot to the table. So, you know, again, I've said this throughout my campaign, and in Cape Coral, if you don't like something, change it.”
She claims that Michigan has been ranked last in government transparency, and in fact, it was, in 2015 in ratings by the Center for Public Integrity. Another report from the Coalition for Integrity ranked Michigan 48th compared with the other 50 states and Washington, D.C. Michigan remains one of two states that exempts the governor’s office from Freedom of Information Act requests (the other is Massachusetts). Subsequent attempts at reform haven’t made it to the governor’s desk.
Sawicki believes her personal life illustrates her approach to government. “I'm an open book with my life and everything that's happened to me. I am an open book, and I think government should be the same thing.”
She is also disturbed by recent education rankings that place Michigan 41st of the 50 states in education. “You know, we fell 10 points over the last decade. … That's unacceptable,” she said.
Sawicki sets herself apart from the other candidates by stressing her involvement in all areas of government in her experience in the Cape.
“So the people currently running … none of them have necessarily touched all of government in a way that you know how it impacts all the way down. And that's where I still get calls or emails or things from people from the Cape who are like, thank you,” she said.
“It's starting to feel just like it did Cape Coral, because I ran against five, you know, hometown heroes, as they were called, and one incumbent, one former council member, everybody more well known than me, and I'm good with that. I thrive in that kind of challenge.”
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