Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist said it’s “time to #StandTALLforMichigan” when he announced his campaign for governor in March.

“Michigan doesn’t wait for progress,” the 6 foot 8 inch Detroit native wrote, “we make it.”

He elaborated on those comments just five days ago.

“Standing tall means standing up for the values that represent us: fairness, opportunity, and freedom,” Gilchrist posted to X. “That’s the Michigan we’re building – together.”

Standing tall means standing up for the values that represent us: fairness, opportunity, and freedom. That’s the Michigan we’re building—together.

— Garlin Gilchrist (@garlin) June 13, 2025

But now that Gilchrist has the opportunity to “do the right thing,” he is opting instead to put the Democratic Party over his constituents in the 35^th Senate District.

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“And there you have it, folks,” the right-leaning Michigan Freedom Fund posted to X on Tuesday. “Lt Gov. @Garlin’s promise to stand tall for Michigan falls short and refuses to give the people of SD 35 a voice in Lansing.”

And there you have it, folks. Lt Gov. @garlin's promise to stand tall for Michigan falls short and refuses to give the people of SD 35 a voice in Lansing. pic.twitter.com/UfqVSBVKw1

— MichiganFreedomFund (@MichiganFreedom) June 17, 2025

The post included a clip from MIRS that made it clear Gilchrist will not heed MFF’s call the day prior to set a special election while serving as acting governor during Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s latest “investment mission” to Australia this week.

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Gilchrist told MIRS he’s in “constant communication” with Whitmer while she’s away, and signaled she’s still the one calling the shots.

“When asked about the 35^th Senate District seat left vacant by U.S. Rep. Kristen MCDONALD RIVET (D-Bay City) when she took her seat in Congress on Jan. 3, Gilchrist said he takes his responsibility as acting governor seriously when Whitmer is out of the country,” MIRS reports. “’As soon as we have something to share, that’ll be shared,’ Gilchrist said about the special election.”

The news service reports it has never “taken this long to call a special election for a vacant seat since the Michigan Legislature went full time in the mid 1960s.”

On Monday, MFF pointed to comments from Gilchrist last month at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s annual policy conference, where the lieutenant governor told reporters his 270,000 constituents in the 35^th Senate District are “certainly ready” for a special election to replace McDonald Rivet, who was sworn into Congress 166 days ago.

“I think people in the district are ready for it,” said Gilchrist, who is running to replace the term-limited Whitmer in 2026. “I’ve spent time in the district. They’re ready for it.”

“We’re about to find out in real time if Acting Governor Garlin Gilchrist is brave enough to do the right thing and stand up to the Democrat powerbrokers in Lansing,” Zach Rudat, advocacy director for MFF, said in a statement. “We’re about to find out if he’s willing to stand tall for Michigan taxpayers without a voice, or if he will sit on his hands in cowardice at the direction of his absent boss.

“Gilchrist knows what the right thing to do is. He knows Whitmer’s inaction is an injustice to taxpayers in the Great Lakes Bay Region,” Rudat said. “It’s time for Acting Governor Gilchrist to do the right thing and schedule this special election as soon as possible.”

Folks online were not impressed with Gilchrist’s response on Tuesday, with many blasting the lieutenant governor for his double talk.

“Michigan Lt Gov Garlin Gilchrist says he takes his responsibility to be an inactive acting Governor seriously,” one X user posted.

“It’s not every day you see a 7-foot tall man stuff himself in a locker,” another wrote. “But yesterday was that day, and Garlin Gilchrist was that guy. Sad!”

“As expected, @LtGovGilchrist is a coward who doesn’t live up to the courage of his convictions,” yet another post read. “Pathetic. Democracy has no place in Queen Whitmer’s Michigan.”

While McDonald Rivet was sworn into Congress on Jan. 3, it’s been 225 days since the November election made it obvious Whitmer would need to call a special election.

Despite numerous calls from constituents, lawmakers, local leaders, businesses, political allies and public rallies demanding Whitmer schedule a special election, the governor has refused to do so, offering no rationale for the delay.

Whitmer told WCMU in April she’s reviewing possible election dates, but has otherwise largely ignored constituents in Bay, Midland, and Saginaw counties pleading for action.

“At some point there will be one, but I don’t have an announcement to make yet,” she told the news station while assessing damage from a northern Michigan ice storm. “I haven’t make a determination yet. There are a number of times in the year that we could call for it, and I just haven’t made a decision yet, but I’ll let you know as soon as I do.”

Left-wing voting rights activists with Common Cause Michigan, who have supported the governor’s initiatives, in April demanded Whitmer “rise above” the “partisan games” to put her constituents first.

“Michiganders don’t like it when their elected officials play partisan games,” CCM Director Quentin Turner said in a statement. “Governor Whitmer needs to rise above such tactics and set a date for the special election ASAP. The people of the 35^th District deserve representation in Lansing.”

Everyone understands why Whitmer won’t budge.

“The outcome of the special election in the 35^th District will be a difference maker for what the remaining two years of Whitmer’s tenure looks like,” former Republican U.S. ambassador Joe Cella wrote in a column for The Detroit News. “Whitmer is hoping the big momentum behind … Donald Trump in Michigan and nationally cools off before calling the special election to give the likely lead Democrat contender maximum advantage.”

The 35^th Senate District stretches across five state House districts, and only one is represented by a Democrat: Rep. Amos O’Neal, D-Saginaw; Rep. Bill Schuette, R-Midland; Rep. Timmy Beson, R-Bay City; and Rep. Matt Bierlein, R-Vassar.

The district’s Midland, Bay and Saginaw counties went 54.8% for President Donald Trump in November. The senate district has been represented by a Republican every year since 1965, until McDonald-Rivet took office in 2023.

A special election would determine whether the legislature’s upper chamber operates with a new 19-19 tie between Republicans and Democrats, or returns to a 20-18 Democratic majority. Voters shifted control of the House to Republicans in November, killing the first Democratic government trifecta in four decades.

When constituents confronted officials from Whitmer’s office about “taxation without representation” at a Saginaw town hall meeting in March, an unnamed official confirmed the delay “is more of an issue with … the Michigan Democratic Party, as it relates to the election and … it’s all about timing.”

Others have repeatedly noted it took Whitmer just days to call a special election when absences threatened the Democratic majority in the House last year.

Last week, a reporter with Restore MI Voice confronted McDonald Rivet in Saginaw about the situation, but she opted to flee through traffic rather than discuss the issue.

“Why is it taking so long to fill your old seat, Congresswoman?” asked the reporter. Rivet, wearing sunglasses and a denim jacket, shrugged, “Oh, I don’t know.”

She did not respond, however, to the follow-up question: “Is Whitmer right to deprive your constituents of representation?”

At that point, she pointedly ignored her interlocutor and entered the street as cars whizzed by.