Royal Oak — Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said the state's economic development agency is in need of significant reform but stopped short of calling for the department's elimination during a campaign event Thursday.

After a brief speech for her gubernatorial campaign at the Fifth Avenue restaurant in Royal Oak, Benson was asked by reporters whether she supported the elimination of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Some House and Senate Republicans recently introduced bills to nix the controversial agency, but Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday threatened to veto any such legislation that reaches her desk.

"I do think it needs to be reformed, significantly," Benson said of the MEDC. "I think we're losing too many projects to other states and I think we need to

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