Garlin Gilchrist II

Garlin Gilchrist first burst onto the scene in 2019, becoming the first Black Lieutenant Governor in Michigan’s history, as well as the highest-ranking Black elected official in Michigan history. We chose Gilchrist as a member of our esteemed Root 100 list in 2020 for his focus on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Blacks in his state. Since then, the Lieutenant Governor has not let us down. Gilchrist has worked hard to push for much needed infrastructure improvements to help underserved communities. “We can grow our economy and support good paying jobs and harness the talent here in Michigan by making these investments that deploy people during the build out but also lay the foundation for economic activity and opportunity going forward because people, families, companies want to invest in places where infrastructure is strong,” Gilchrist told a local Michigan radio station in mid-November. In 2022, Gilchrist and Governor Gretchen Witmore also helped usher in one of the largest Democratic victories in decades in the state, as Democrats swept the state House and Senate for the first time since 1984. Big things are clearly on the horizon for this trailblazer, and we could not be more pleased to once again offer him a spot on our Root 100 list.