Garlin Gilchrist II (born September 25, 1982) is an American politician and activist serving as the 64th

lieutenant governor of Michigan The lieutenant governor of Michigan is the second-ranking official in U.S. state of Michigan, behind the governor. The current lieutenant governor by default is Garlin Gilchrist, a Democrat, who has held the office since January 1, 2019. Proce ...

since 2019. He is a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

Early life and education

Gilchrist was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. In 1982, his family moved to

Farmington, Michigan Farmington is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the population was 10,372. It is surrounded by Farmington ...

. His mother worked at

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

for 32 years and his father worked in defense contract management for the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Science in Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Bache ...

with majors in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

and

computer engineering Computer engineering (CoE or CpE) is a branch of electrical engineering and computer science that integrates several fields of computer science and electronic engineering required to develop computer hardware and software. Computer engineers ...

from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 2005.

Career

Gilchrist moved to

Redmond, Washington Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 73,256 at the 2020 census, up from 54,144 in 2010. Redmond is best known as the home of Microsoft and Nintendo of America. With an an ...

, and worked for

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

for four years as a

software engineer Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development. A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term ''p ...

, where he helped build

SharePoint SharePoint is a web-based collaborative platform that integrates natively with Microsoft Office. Launched in 2001, SharePoint is primarily sold as a document management and storage system, but the product is highly configurable and its usage v ...

. Next, Gilchrist worked as a community organizer and director of new media for the Center for Community Change, now known as Community Change. Later, Gilchrist worked for

MoveOn.org MoveOn (formerly known as MoveOn.org) is a progressive public policy advocacy group and political action committee. Formed in 1998 around one of the first massively viral email petitions, MoveOn has since grown into one of the largest grassroot ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, as national campaign director. In July 2014, Gilchrist moved back to Detroit, working for the city government under chief information officer Beth Niblock as director of innovation and emerging technology. He created the Improve Detroit smartphone app that allows residents to report issues for the city to address. He served as founding executive director of the Center for Social Media Responsibility within the

University of Michigan School of Information The University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI or iSchool) is the informatics and information science school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It offers baccalaureate, magisterial, and doc ...

from the

University of Michigan Detroit Center The University of Michigan Detroit Center (UMDC, U-M Detroit Center or Detroit Center) is a community outreach center, meeting/events facility, and academic home base for University of Michigan units, located in Midtown Detroit. The facility s ...

. In 2017, Gilchrist ran for Detroit

City Clerk A clerk is a senior official of many municipal governments in the English-speaking world. In some communities, including most in the United States, the position is elected, but in many others, the clerk is appointed to their post. In the UK, a Tow ...

against

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

Janice Winfrey. He lost by 1,482 votes. Gilchrist was selected as a Community Change Champion in Community Organizing in 2019 for his work to advance social and racial justice in the United States.

Lieutenant governor of Michigan

Gretchen Whitmer Gretchen Esther Whitmer (born August 23, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 49th governor of Michigan since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 2001 to 2006 a ...

selected Gilchrist as her

running mate A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint Ticket (election), ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position (such as the vice presidential candidate ...

in the

2018 Michigan gubernatorial election Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short s ...

. The pair defeated the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

ticket of

Bill Schuette William Duncan Schuette ( ; born October 13, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 53rd attorney general of Michigan from 2011 to 2019. He was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for Senate in 1990 and for Governor of Mich ...

and

Lisa Posthumus Lyons Lisa Posthumus Lyons (born June 12, 1980) is an American politician from Alto, Michigan, and served three terms as a Republican member of the Michigan House of Representatives from District 86 (portions of Ionia and Kent Counties) from 2011 - ...

. With Whitmer's victory, Gilchrist became the first African American to serve as

Lieutenant Governor of Michigan The lieutenant governor of Michigan is the second-ranking official in U.S. state of Michigan, behind the governor. The current lieutenant governor by default is Garlin Gilchrist, a Democrat, who has held the office since January 1, 2019. Proce ...

, as well as the first born in the 1980's. He took office on January 1, 2019. On April 9, 2020, Whitmer named Gilchrist as the chair of a statewide taskforce examining racial disparities in the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Gilchrist later claimed victory in reducing the racial disparities in COVID-19 deaths, but according to public health experts this change in racial disparities in COVID-19 deaths may be due to a surge in cases among white people living around the state. Gilchrist was named a vice-chair of the

2020 Democratic National Convention The 2020 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that was held from August 17 to 20, 2020, at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and virtually across the United States. At the convention, delegates of ...

. On November 8, 2022, Whitmer and Gilchrist were re-elected by a wide margin in

2022 Michigan gubernatorial election The 2022 Michigan gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Michigan. Incumbent Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer ran for re-election to a second term and faced former political commentator Tudor Dixon ...

, defeating the Republican ticket of Tudor Dixon and

Shane Hernandez Shane Hernandez (born August 23, 1982) is an American politician and architect who served in the Michigan House of Representatives from the 83rd district from 2017 to 2020. With Paul Mitchell opting not to run for reelection to the United State ...

Personal life

Gilchrist and his wife have three children.

Electoral history

References

External links

Government website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilchrist, Garlin 1982 births Living people African-American people in Michigan politics Computer engineers Lieutenant Governors of Michigan Michigan Democrats Politicians from Detroit University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni 21st-century American politicians American software engineers 21st-century American engineers Engineers from Michigan African-American engineers African-American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople Businesspeople from Michigan People from Farmington, Michigan Activists from Michigan African-American activists 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people