Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit joins race for Michigan attorney general
Savit, a Democrat, pledged to fight corporate polluters, scams and rip-offs that harm Michigan consumers, and constitutional overreach and associated funding cuts by Republican President Donald Trump. He said another priority would be fighting "wage theft" by employers who fail to pay required overtime or avoid paying benefits by improperly classifying workers as independent contractors.
"I'm running to stand up for the people of the state of Michigan, no matter who is screwing them over," Savit said in a May 12 interview with the Free Press.
Savit, 42, of Ann Arbor, joins former federal prosecutor Mark Totten in the race for the Democratic nomination. On the Republican side, Birmingham attorney Kevin Kijewski has announced his candidacy.
The current attorney general, Democrat Dana Nessel, can't run again in 2026 because of constitutional term limits.
Savit is completing his second four-year term as Washtenaw County prosecutor, where he campaigned to reduce racial and socio-economic inequities in the criminal justice system and increase support for mental health and addiction services.
Since he was first elected prosecutor in 2020, Savit established an economic justice unit focused on issues such as worker and consumer protection. He has also sought to eliminate, to the extent possible under current law, the use of cash bail in criminal cases, saying a defendant's financial resources should not dictate whether they remain free pending trial.
"If you're dangerous, you should be held pending trial." Savit said. "You shouldn't be able to buy your way out, if you are wealthy."
Before that, he worked for the city of Detroit as senior legal counsel under Mayor Mike Duggan, suing the opioid industry and directing the city's legal efforts in winning, along with interest groups, a nearly $100-million settlement for Detroit Public Schools in a right-to-literacy lawsuit against the state of Michigan.
Savit, who grew up in Ann Arbor, graduated from Kalamazoo College and the University of Michigan Law School. In between, he worked as an eighth-grade history and special education teacher.
After law school, Savit clerked for two U.S. Supreme Court justices — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died in 2020, and Sandra Day O'Connor, who died in 2023.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Washtenaw Prosecutor Eli Savit joins Michigan attorney general race
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