Born into a relatively wealthy family from Detroit (his father owned a chain of haberdashery stores) on November 12, 1942, Winograd graduated from the University of Michigan in 1963 with a bachelor's in business administration. He first became involved in local politics in Troy, Oakland County in the late 1960s and then jumped to state politics when he won the election for chairman of the state Democratic Party in 1973. He moved into national politics when he was elected secretary of the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) Association of State Democratic Chairs (ASDC) in 1975.
In the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, he became a rising force in the Democratic Party, both in Michigan and nationally. He served as chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party from 1973 to 1979 and was elected president of the Association of State Democratic Chairs (ASDC) from 1979 to 1980. Winograd was also active in the Democratic National Committee (DNC), serving as the appointed chairman of the Commission on Presidential Nomination and Party Structure from 1975 to 1978.
Widely recognized as a master organizer and facilitator in the political process, Winograd nevertheless began to fall into disfavor in Michigan by 1978 until 1980, when his own personal views were questioned, primarily by African-American Democrats, most notably Detroit Mayor Coleman Young, who charged Winograd with racism. He resigned as chairperson of the Michigan Democratic Party in 1979 and was not re-elected as president of the ASDC in 1980. Winograd was appointed by Governor James Blanchard to the Michigan Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution in 1986 and served as chairman from 1988 to 1991.
