Cox Sues Benson To End ‘SPLC Cover-Up’

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 07/16/2026) Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike COX is suing Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who also is running for governor, seeking the release of public records about her involvement with the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Cox, a former attorney general, said his complaint “makes clear that Benson is wrongfully withholding and delaying” release of the records related to his April 27 Freedom of Information Act request until after the election.

“It’s clear that Jocelyn Benson has something to hide on the SPLC, or she would have proudly released these communications months ago,” said Cox. “Secretary Benson is stalling. Why? Probably because it is very damaging to her election. So I'm taking her to court to find out.”

Angela Benander, chief communications officer for SOS, said the department has not yet been served with Cox’s suit.

Benander noted that Cox’s FOIA request sought an “unreasonably large number of records that would consume a tremendous amount of state resources to fulfill.”

According to Cox’s complaint, filed Thursday in the Court of Claims on behalf of Cox and his Mike Cox 2026 campaign, Cox filed a FOIA in April seeking emails and other records involving Benson, her department, and the SPLC.

Cox also sought “all emails, letters, memoranda, text messages, calendar invitations, Teams messages, Slack messages, Signal messages, direct messages, encrypted-message records, or other written electronic communication” involving Benson and employees, contractors, consultants and SPLC employees. As it related to meeting records, Cox sought calendar entries, invitations, agendas, notes, attendance lists, briefing materials, handouts, follow-up emails, travel records, reimbursement records and event-preparation materials.

Cox said the state’s demand of $10,309 to process his public records request was “extraordinary.” The department requested half upfront and indicated it would “an inordinate 109 hours to review” and separate what is exempt as well as an additional 10 weeks to process the request.

Cox said his campaign paid the deposit, but the Secretary of State still hasn’t produced the records more than 11 weeks after his original FOIA.

The complaint alleges that Benson is “willfully and intentionally” avoiding releasing the records before the Aug. 4 primary because she wants to win the Democratic nomination.

“Jocelyn Benson said in 2015 she was ‘very proud’ to serve on the board of the SPLC. It’s time for Secretary Benson to show the voters of Michigan the work she’s so proud of,” said Cox. ”If you have nothing to fear you have nothing to hide.”

Benson worked as a staffer, researcher and undercover investigator for the SPLC before joining the Board of Directors in 2014. She left in 2018.

Her ties to SPLC have become the subject of political scrutiny due to an April federal indictment in Montgomery, Alabama, involving the SPLC.

The 11-count indictment money laundering and wire fraud between 2014 and 2023. Specifically, the U.S. Department of Justice alleges the SPLC “secretly funneled more than $3 million in SPLC donated funds to individuals who were associated with various violent extremist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nations, and the National Socialist Party of America.”

In May, Rep. Rachelle Smit (R-Shelbyville) introduced HR 313, which urges Benson to release “all information in her possession” related to SPLC’s operations. It was adopted 56-50, with four not voting, and created quite the drama on the House floor.