Kathleen Gray Detroit Free Press Published 6:00 AM EDT Oct 15, 2018 Garlin Gilchrist has gotten used to the jokes, the stares, the craned necks necessary to talk to him. Standing at 6-foot-8, the 36-year-old Detroit resident and Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor towers above just about everybody. But instead of rolling his eyes at comments like, “He stands head and shoulders above the rest” — from his running mate on the Democratic gubernatorial ticket, Gretchen Whitmer — or, “When you give Garlin a high five, it’s a really high five” — from Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate who finished second in the August primary — Gilchrist has turned his height into a campaign theme. When he ran for Detroit city clerk in 2017, his campaign theme was “Stand Tall for Detroit.” And now his social media tagline is #StandTallforMichigan. “It doesn’t bother me. I’ve heard the jokes my entire life,” he said in an interview last week. “I find that it’s a way for people to start a conversation and that’s all I want to do every day, and not just on the campaign trail, but as lieutenant governor. It’s about having conversations and building relationships.” For the past few months, he has been building relationships with both Whitmer and voters across the state, campaigning from Marquette to Monroe. In addition to the technical skills he brings to the table, Gilchrist also helps the ticket in Detroit and, as an African-American, brings diversity to a ticket that, until he was picked,… [Read full story]
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