Former U.S. Attorney Mark Totten launches bid for attorney general as Nessel faces term limits
Mark Totten, a former U.S. attorney, has declared his candidacy to be Michigan's next attorney general, becoming the first Democrat to declare for the position.
Totten was nominated by former President Joe Biden to be the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Michigan, a post he served in from May 2022 through January 2025. Totten previously served as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's chief legal counsel from 2019 to 2022. He taught criminal law at Michigan State University from 2009 to 2018.
With sitting Attorney General Dana Nessel unable to run again in 2026 due to term limits, the race for Michigan's top legal office will likely be hotly contested.
Totten led Whitmer's legal fight to protect reproductive freedom after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. In his role as U.S. Attorney, Totten prosecuted two men from Nigeria in an international sextortion scheme that led to the suicide of 17-year-old Jordan DeMay, as well as Rashad Trice, who was convicted in August for the murdering 2-year-old Wynter Cole-Smith and sexually assaulting her mother.
'On January 20th, my term of service as U.S. attorney came to an end. And since then I have watched in horror as a president has stoked division, trampled civil rights and undermined the very rule of law. I refuse to stand by and watch and that's why I'm running for attorney general: to fight for you and to fight for everything we hold dear,' Totten said in a video announcing his candidacy.
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Former legislative leader Toni Atkins reported having $4.3 million in the campaign, while raising $648,000 and spending $549,000 in the first six months of this year. Villaraigosa raised $1.1 million and spent $550,000 this year, but reported $3.3 million cash on hand based on fundraising he did last year. Becerra had $2.1 million in the bank after raising $2.5 million and spending $449,000 in the first six months of the year. Porter reported raising $2.5 million and spending $449,000 since launching her campaign in March. She said she has $2.1 million in the bank. Unlike the other candidates, Porter's campaign revealed her fundraising because her filing on the state disclosure website didn't show any dollar figures. Spokesman Nathan Click said her number of small-dollar donors crashed the state's system, and that they had been working with state officials to get the documents displayed on the secretary of state's website all day Friday. He said most of Porter's 34,000 donors contributed less than $200 each. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco reported raising $1.6 million and spending $609,000 this year, leaving him with $1 million in the bank. A few candidates reported mediocre fundraising numbers, but have personal wealth they can draw on. Kounalakis raised just over $100,000 and spent nearly three times as much during the first half of this year. She has more than $4.6 million on hand and millions more in her lieutenant governor campaign account, although some of that money can't be transferred because of campaign finance rules. Businessman Stephen J. Cloobeck, a Los Angeles Democrat, raised about $160,000 and spent $1.5 million — including more than $1 million on consultants. He had about $729,000 on hand at the end of the period. He also said he made a $10-million contribution Friday that he said 'turbocharged' his campaign. 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