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Mark Totten
Mark Totten (Democratic Party) is running for election for Attorney General of Michigan. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.[source]
Totten was a Democratic candidate for District 20 in the Michigan State Senate in the November 2, 2010, state legislative elections. He was defeated by Robert Jones in the Democratic primary in August 2010.
Biography
After graduating from Yale University, Totten worked as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice. He works as a criminal law professor at Michigan State University.[1]
Education
- B.A., Cedarville College
- J.D., Yale University
- Ph.D., ethics, Yale University[1]
Elections
2026
See also: Michigan Attorney General election, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for Attorney General of Michigan
The following candidates are running in the general election for Attorney General of Michigan on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Karen McDonald (D) | |
| Eli Savit (D) | ||
 | Mark Totten (D) | |
 | Matthew DePerno (R) | |
 | Kevin Kijewski (R)  | |
| Doug Lloyd (R) | ||
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
2014
- See also: Michigan attorney general election, 2014
Totten ran for election to the office of Attorney General of Michigan in 2014.[2] He faced Republican incumbent Bill Shuette and three minor party opponents in the general election. The general election took place on November 4, 2014.
Results
| Attorney General of Michigan, 2014 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Bill Schuette Incumbent |
52.1% | 1,603,471 | |
| Democratic | Mark Totten | 44.2% | 1,359,839 | |
| Libertarian | Justin Altman | 1.9% | 57,345 | |
| U.S. Taxpayers | Gerald T. Van Sickle | 1% | 30,762 | |
| Green | John Anthony La Pietra | 0.8% | 25,747 | |
| Total Votes | 3,077,164 | |||
| Election results via Michigan Department of State | ||||
Endorsements
Totten received endorsements in this election, including the following:[3]
Organizations
- SEIU Michigan State Council
- Michigan Education Association (MEA) Democratic Educators Caucus
- Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council
- Michigan Association for Justice (MAJ)
- United Food & Commercial Workers Local 951
Individuals
- Kurt Asbury, Bay County Prosecutor
- Sheriff Gary Ballweg, Delta County
- Everette Ayers, Crawford County Prosecutor
- Ed Black, Alpena County Prosecutor
- Sheriff George Braidwood, Shiawassee County
2010
Totten was defeated by Robert Jones in the August Democratic primary.[4]
| Michigan State Senate, District 20, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Robert Jones |
62.9% | 6,578 | |
| Democratic | Mark Totten | 37.1% | 3,876 | |
| Total Votes | 10,454 | |||
| Election results via Michigan Secretary of State | ||||
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
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2014
Totten's campaign website listed the following themes for the 2014 race:
| “ |
Justice for Victims and Preventing Crime Justice for victims. A few years ago Mark began service as a volunteer federal prosecutor, in addition to his full-time work teaching at MSU College of Law. Lending his expertise in appeals, Mark took on a series of challenging cases and won critical decisions that not only kept dangerous offenders behind bars, but strengthened the laws across Michigan to prevent future crimes and more victims. Mark worked tirelessly, at times giving more than 50 hours of volunteer service a week to protect Michigan families. His tough advocacy protected children from child predators, victims of domestic violence from their abusers, and senior-citizens and low-income folks from predatory lenders. Mark has ensured justice for victims and he’ll do the same as Attorney General. Preventing crime; not just reacting to it. Like any prosecutor, Mark loves winning a case. At the same time, he understands it’s far better to prevent a crime from happening in the first place. Just talking tough on crime – while acting dumb on crime – leaves us less safe. Here’s a few ways Mark will be smart on crime. Advocate for education. The evidence is undeniable that kids who drop out of school are much more likely to enter a life of crime. And so the next time the legislature considers yet another round of cuts to public education and the resources our schools need to educate children, Mark will make sure the legislature, the Governor, and the public clearly understand the implications for public safety of the continued assault on public education. Champion prisoner re-entry programs. The old approach of simply warehousing idle prisoners and then dumping them on the streets after they’ve served their sentence has failed. That approach means more crime and more victims. Mark will support and expand programs like Prison Re-Entry, which prepares prisoners who have served their time to transition back into society as working, law-abiding citizens. Protecting Families from Foreclosures and Financial Harm Michigan has been one of the states hardest hit by the financial crisis. Whether by foreclosure, falling home prices, or the loss of jobs that followed, we’ve all been harmed. As Attorney General, Mark Totten will lead the fight to protect Michigan families. He’ll demand accountability from wrongdoers, including predatory lenders as well as their Wall Street backers. He’ll fight to recover losses for victims. And he’ll push for necessary new laws and strong enforcement to ensure these harms never happen again. When fifteen state attorneys general around the nation filed lawsuits against Standard and Poor’s – the credit rating agency on Wall Street that said everything was safe and sound in the years leading up to the crisis – Michigan’s Attorney General was nowhere to be found. When corporations harm people, Mark will be the People’s Lawyer. Standing-Up for Consumers Mark will fight to repeal Schuette’s drug immunity law, which Schuette championed and passed in 1995, making Michigan the only state in the nation that gives drug companies complete immunity when their products harm or even kill parents and children – as long as the drug was FDA-approved. Moreover, Bill Schuette has failed to defend Michigan’s Consumer Protection Act. This critical law protects people who are harmed by products they buy or services they use. As a result, Michigan’s consumer protections are some of the weakest in the nation. As Michigan’s Attorney General, Mark Totten will restore consumer protections in Michigan and use those powers to protect Michigan citizens who suffer harm. Ensuring Ethics and Transparency in Government Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act and Open Meetings Act protect the political process: they don’t guarantee outcomes, but they ensure decision making happens in the sunlight and subject to public scrutiny. Without these vital laws, voters would be unable to hold their elected officials accountable at the polls. The Governor’s recent “Skunk Works” project – a stealth campaign to reshape public education with a voucher-like system that was shielded from public scrutiny by conducting official business on personal emails – exposed one of many weakness in the system. As Attorney General, Mark Totten would issue a formal opinion to close these loopholes. Serving Those Who've Served The Attorney General has a special responsibility to protect our military service members and veterans – to serve those who serve. Michigan citizens serving abroad should never return home to find their homes foreclosed. And when the call to serve comes, they should be able to fulfill their mission without worrying about predatory schemes targeting them or their families. When over twenty attorneys general took on www.GIBill.com – a marketing scheme by for-profit colleges that deceptively presented themselves to veterans as a federally-sponsored website – Michigan was missing in action. Mark Totten won’t just talk about serving those who serve; he’ll fight as hard for our servicemen and women at home as they fight for us abroad. Preserving Our Great Lakes and Great Outdoors Michigan is blessed with the second longest coastline in the nation, the world’s largest bodies of fresh water, towering sand dunes, rugged cliffs, endless rivers, and deep forests. Hikers and hunters, boaters and beachgoers, paddlers and photographers – and everyone else who simply likes to go for a walk in the woods or a stroll on the beach – love what Michigan offers. But without active care and accountability, Michigan’s Great Lakes and Great Outdoors will suffer. And what Michiganders love today will not be here tomorrow, let alone for future generations. The Michigan Attorney General plays a critical role protecting our lakes and lands. All the laws on the books are meaningless without an active AG who enforces the law. As AG, Mark will hold polluters accountable and send the message to would-be-polluters that the costs of wrongdoing far outweigh any perceived benefits of breaking the law. [5] |
” |
| —Mark Totten's campaign website, (2014) | ||
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Totten and his wife, Kristin, have two children.[1]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Mark + Totten + Michigan + Attorney + General"
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Mark Totten for Attorney General, "Life of Service," accessed August 4, 2014
- ↑ Michigan Department of State, "2014 Official Michigan General Candidate Listing," accessed October 27, 2014
- ↑ Mark Totten for Attorney General, "Endorsements," accessed August 4, 2014
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State "2010 Primary Results"
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Mark Totten for Attorney General, "The Solution," accessed September 22, 2014
