He worked for the
Oakland County Prosecutors' office from 1989 to 1990, then the
Wayne County office from 1990 to 2002, before being elected attorney general. Cox successfully ran for re-election in 2006, after receiving the
Republican nomination at the August Michigan Republican Party Convention. Cox left office in January 2011 due to term limits. Also in January 2011, he joined the Detroit law firm Dykema Gosset. He later opened his own law firm, which is best known for representing former
University of Michigan students suing the university for sexual abuse perpetrated by sports physician
Robert Anderson.
Attorney General of Michigan As attorney general, Cox took a prominent role in taking on
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM). Cox opposed BCBSM supported bills and challenged BCBSM in court for the alleged transfer of nonprofit funds to purchase a for-profit company. In 2003, Cox created a
cold case unit to investigate and prosecute cold cases. Cox's team secured notable convictions including
Coral Watts;
Gary Leiterman; John Rodney McRae; Raymond and Donald Duvall, the brothers who killed two Oakland County hunters in 1985; Rosiland Brown and her brother Montez Pettiford, for the 1985 murder of Christopher Brown; six people who murdered Janet Chandler in 1979; and Timothy Dawson, who was convicted of killing his wife. In 2006, Cox read a story in
The New York Times depicting the sexual abuse of a child in California by a man in Detroit via the underground world of child pornography. Cox initiated an investigation, and police found hundreds of computers with thousands of pornographic images in Ken Gourlay's possession. Eventually, Gourlay was convicted of several charges including enticing a child to engage in sexually abusive activity and was sentenced to six years by circuit court judge Archie Brown in 2007.
Detroit Mayor's mansion party Cox played a role in the aftermath of a party at
Manoogian Mansion, then the residence of Detroit mayor
Kwame Kilpatrick. Strippers were alleged to have been present at the party and allegedly assaulted; one dancer was murdered shortly after. Citing no evidence, no proof, and no witnesses, Cox declined to offer a
subpoena, effectively closing an investigation by the State of Michigan into allegations of the "wild party." The
Michigan State Police continued its own separate investigation. Cox interviewed the Mayor with his chief criminal prosecutor. State police officers have testified that they had strong leads that needed to be followed regarding the Manoogian Mansion party, that the state police believed that the Detroit Police Department was destroying evidence in the case, but "because of actions by Attorney General Mike Cox, they were powerless to stop them." A state police memo indicated that they had wanted to interview the mayor and the mayor's wife, but because the attorney general had "shut down" the investigation, the state police could not get subpoenas, medical records or the cooperation of witnesses. Seven years after the investigation, the party has not been proven to have occurred. The chief of police from a nearby city alleged that he was invited to the party. A witness at a hospital claimed that an assault victim arrived for treatment with what appeared to be the then-mayor's security detail, and the witness was told by a co-worker that the victim had been beaten by the mayor's wife. A
9-1-1 dispatcher has also given testimony under oath in a civil deposition about officers who were dispatched to the Mansion regarding a disturbance. She said she was told by responding officers that Cox was present at the party. Mike Cox denied the accusation in a TV interview. More recently, a woman who alleges that she also danced at the Manogian Mansion party has come forward and has sworn under oath that not only did the party happen, but that she witnessed an assault by the former mayor's wife on Tamara Greene at the party. She also has alleged that several Detroit police officers were guests at the party.
Civil rights Cox was one of the few elected officials to support the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative which was a constitutional amendment to ban racial and gender preferences for state institutions in 2006. In February 2003, Cox refused then-Governor Granholm's request for the State of Michigan to provide an
amicus brief in support of the University of Michigan's admissions policies which allowed racial preferences. After Cox's refusal, then-Governor Granholm submitted a brief in her capacity as Governor supporting the University's position, not on behalf of the State of Michigan. The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative was passed by Michigan voters with a margin of 58%-42% in 2006 according to the Michigan Secretary of State. After passage, the group By Any Means Necessary challenged the constitutionality of the amendment in federal court to prevent implementation. As Attorney General, Cox immediately defended the constitutionality of the amendment and vigorously defended the amendment until his term ended in December 2010. In October 2013, the Department of Attorney General argued the defense of MCRI in the U.S. Supreme Court. On April 22, 2014, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the State in
Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action. Adultery law Cox received nationwide press in 2007 when the
Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that
adultery could be prosecuted as first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a resulting life in prison sentence. This unanimous decision was reached as a result of an appeal sought by Cox's office on a drug case that touched in part on this strange loophole in the law. In November 2005, Cox himself admitted to committing adultery while accusing
Oakland County lawyer
Geoffrey Fieger of blackmail, claiming that he threatened to reveal the affair if Cox did not drop an investigation into Fieger's campaign finance violations. Cox said his personal conduct was "inexcusable" and had reconciled with his wife.
Health care Cox joined nineteen other state attorneys general, all but one being Republican, in challenging the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act after its passage.
Same-sex marriage In April 2013, Cox became one of the first high-profile Republicans in Michigan to support same-sex marriage. Cox urged the legislature to overturn the 2004 constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions. Cox said his views "evolved", and went on to say "Usually, I hate it when politicians say their views have evolved, but I guess mine have," Cox said. "Part of it is I've just become more libertarian. I still think of myself as a social conservative."
2010 campaign for governor Cox filed paperwork to explore a bid for governor in 2008, and was the first person to form an exploratory committee. The
Republican nominee in 2006,
Dick DeVos, announced in November 2008 that he was not going to seek the GOP nomination in 2010. In March 2009, the
Detroit Free Press reported that Cox led the likely Democratic challenger at the time, Lt. Governor
John D. Cherry, by 41−34%. Cherry later decided not to run. On May 27, 2009, Cox formally announced his candidacy for governor on Facebook and Twitter. Local and national polling indicated in March 2010 that Cox was one of the front-runners for the Republican nomination, potentially defeating his potential Democratic opponents in the 2010 gubernatorial election by comfortable margins in hypothetical match-ups. Cox finished third in the Republican gubernatorial primary, behind businessman
Rick Snyder and
Congressman Pete Hoekstra.
2026 campaign for governor In April 2025, Cox announced his candidacy in the 2026 Michigan gubernatorial election. ==Electoral history==