Democrats better hope Michigan Gov. Whitmer changes her mind about presidential run
When an interviewer at a Detroit Economic Club forum last month asked Whitmer what she's looking forward to in 2026, when she's term-limited out of office, the governor didn't miss a beat: "Retiring," she replied.
Democrats better hope Whitmer was joking, because she may be the party's best hope of reclaiming the White House in 2028.
More from Nancy Kaffer: We talked to Whitmer about her new book and asked about tattoos, Gen X and 2028
We could talk here about the other guys likely to seek the 2028 nomination, a list that includes, at minimum, former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and will surely grow over the next three years.
But I think it's a better idea to talk about Whitmer.
She's a successful purple-state governor with decades of legislative, policymaking and executive experience. She speaks with intelligence and sensitivity on subjects from manufacturing to motherhood. She's got a knack for focusing on substantive issues that offer common ground, like funding our schools and fixing our roads.
At 53, she's youthful and energetic ― but seasoned and experienced ― in a party with a surfeit of octogenarians, and she's a woman in a party whose voters, at times, seem disinclined toward white male candidates, at least at the state and congressional levels.
Whitmer is an effective advocate for the causes she champions, and, as a mom who seemed to effortlessly balance raising two daughters, now grown, and leading the 10th most populous state in the nation, she's an aspirational figure for thousands of Michigan women who can't remember if they put money in their kid's school lunch account. (OK, it's me. I'm Michigan women.)
Whitmer was elected and re-elected by wide margins, and her approval rating has never dipped below 50%, which is, in these sorry times, a real achievement.
"She is a superb retail politician, and a really unique one," said pollster Richard Czuba of the Glengariff Group. "You watch her work a rope line, and she makes everyone feel seen. And she comes from a state that's a must-win for a Democrat."
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There's no denying that her willingness to work with President Donald Trump has disappointed some Democrats who would prefer blanket opposition to hopeful collaboration.
That centrist thing, Czuba said, is really only a problem for the far flanks of both parties ― and they're not the swing voters who decide elections, in Michigan or in the U.S.
"We did this question last year: Should an elected official cross party lines and negotiate with the other party to get something done, or should elected officials stick to the party's position and stand up for it?" said Czuba, of a survey likely voters for the Detroit Regional Chamber ahead of that year's Mackinac Policy Conference. "It was 70% to 19%."
The 19%, he said, were on the far right and the far left.
"She's doing exactly what most voters expect of their leaders," Czuba said. "The governor understands the middle in a way that few people understand independent, centrist voters. That's one of her strengths. She pays attention to the center. In a purple state like Michigan, if you don't, you lose. That's how Democrats can win nationally.
"They need to pay attention to the center, because if you don't, you lose."
This is who Whitmer has always been.
Her political sensibility is best described as "cheerfully determined,' and if there were an Olympic event in keeping your cool, this lady would hold the gold medal.
As late as January 2018, powerful Democratic men ― including Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan ― were working to replace Whitmer on the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial ballot. Her response? "I'm staying focused on running a campaign that can win, so we can get Michigan back to being a state our kids will stay in when they graduate …" Whitmer told me that year. "I'm eager to build the coalition … I'm eager to work with anyone who wants to solve problems."
In 2019, when then-Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, a Republican, called her "batshit crazy" to a crowd of supporters, or said in 2021 that he and the GOP Legislature had "spanked" Whitmer "hard" on the budget and appointments, the governor wasn't mad, just disappointed: "I think that we deserve better, frankly, but I'm not going to spend my energy there because I've got a lot of important things that I'm working on that the people of our state need us to be all-successful on."
In her most recent State of the State, with Republicans back at the helm of the House of Representatives, Whitmer stayed on collaborative message: 'I took an oath to serve the people of Michigan — all the people. That's my commitment to you no matter who is in the White House or on the other side of the table in Lansing. Yes, I do hope to find common ground with President Trump and work with the Democratic Senate and Republican House on our shared priorities.'
Whitmer doesn't start fights, but she's not a pushover. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she went toe-to-toe with Trump, who dubbed her "the woman from Michigan," and in 2022 she led the charge to enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution after Roe v. Wade was overturned. She's a staunch supporter of civil rights, women's rights and LBGTQ+ rights, and she has made it clear that won't change.
The Econ Club interview last month came on the heels of a rough week for Michigan's governor.
A meeting with Trump, set to discuss a new fighter mission for Selfridge Air Force Base and invasive Asian carp in the Great Lakes, had taken a turn: After exchanging pleasant remarks with Whitmer and Michigan's Republican House Speaker Matt Hall, a wave of cameras poured into the Oval Office as Trump signed two executive orders authorizing politically motivated investigations of staffers who served in his first term.
An uncomfortable Whitmer edged away from the action, at one point holding a folder in front of her face as a photographer snapped a picture. The image, published a few days later by the New York Times, reverberated through the political world. ("What was going through my mind at that moment?" she said to the Econ Club interviewer. "'I don't want my picture taken.'")
I got dozens of texts the day the picture published, mostly from political insiders who saw The Folder Incident as Whitmer's Howard Dean scream. (Which, of course, is not actually what ended 2004 candidate Dean's presidential ambitions ... but we're still talking about it, 21 years later.)
As story unfolded, some of the Democratic insiders and national pundits who had been enamored with the notion of Whitmer as a presidential contender soured on the governor. The honeymoon, it seemed, was over.
I didn't feel so great about The Folder Incident myself. It was unpleasant to watch a strong female governor treated that way, and the image, I thought, would reverberate.
But outside the political bubble, it was a different story.
When I floated the suggestion that this might tank Whitmer's presidential future past a friend who's not knee-deep in politics, my friend was skeptical. "Hmm. I guess we'll see. The 2028 election is a long way away," she said. "Some people will just see it as, 'I have nothing to do with this.'"
My friend isn't alone. In an Epic MRA poll conducted between April 28 and May 5 ― two weeks after the Oval Office meeting ― 52% of Michiganders said they approved of Whitmer's performance as governor, consistent with previous polls. In the same survey, just 41% said the same of Trump.
A few weeks later, that new fighter mission at Selfridge Whitmer went to the White House to discuss ― it happened.
Most folks in jobs like mine have responded to Whitmer's repeated assertions that she's into the job she has, not the one everyone thinks she wants, with mild eye-rolling to outright scoffing.
But I believe her. When Whitmer says she's not running in 2028, it doesn't sound coy. It's been a punishing seven years, complete with a pandemic and a murder/kidnapping plot that an astounding number of people somehow see as a punchline or a put-up, and it's easy to imagine that she's ready for a break.
Still, if I were a Democratic strategist, I'd be wondering whether I could persuade Whitmer to change her mind.
Democrats want to win, but winning elections isn't just about numbers on the board. Voters are people, people whose lives are affected by who sits in the governor's mansion, or in the Oval Office.
What Democrats need is to reconnect with voters, and Whitmer is among the few Democrats willing ― or able ― to give the party what it needs.
Nancy Kaffer is the editorial page editor of the Detroit Free Press. Contact: nkaffer@freepress.com. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters, and we may publish it online and in print.
Like what you're reading? Please consider supporting local journalism and getting unlimited digital access with a Detroit Free Press subscription. We depend on readers like you.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Is Whitmer running for president? Democrats better hope so. | Opinion
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Greg Abbott has made threats about removing members who are absent from their seats. Democrats counter that Abbott is using 'smoke and mirrors' to assert legal authority he does not have. Advertisement The House quickly issued civil arrest warrants for absent Democrats and Abbott ordered state troopers to help find and arrest them, but lawmakers physically outside Texas are beyond the jurisdiction of state authorities. 'If you continue to go down this road, there will be consequences,' House Speaker Rep. Dustin Burrows said from the chamber floor, later telling reporters that includes fines. Democrats' revolt and Abbott's threats intensified a fight over congressional maps that began in Texas but now includes Democratic governors who have pitched redrawing their district maps in retaliation — even if their options are limited. The dispute also reflects Trump's aggressive view of presidential power and his grip on the Republican Party nationally, while testing the longstanding balance of powers between the federal government and individual states. The impasse centers on Trump's effort to get five more GOP-leaning congressional seats in Texas, at Democrats' expense, before the midterms. That would bolster his party's chances of preserving its fragile U.S. House majority, something Republicans were unable to do in the 2018 midterms during Trump's first presidency. Republicans currently hold 25 of Texas' 38 seats. That's nearly a 2-to-1 advantage and already a wider partisan gap than the 2024 presidential results: Trump won 56.1% of Texas ballots, while Democrat Kamala Harris received 42.5%. The California pushback: A move to undercut GOP House members According to the tentative California proposal, districts now held by Republican Reps. Ken Calvert, Darrell Issa, Kevin Kiley, David Valadao and Doug LaMalfa would see right-leaning voters shaved and Democratic voters boosted in a shift that would make it likely a left-leaning candidate would prevail in each race. Advertisement In battleground districts held by Democratic Reps. Dave Min, Mike Levin and Derek Tran, the party's edge would be boosted to strengthen their hold on the seats, the source said. Democratic members of California's congressional delegation were briefed on the new map on Monday, according to a person familiar with the meeting who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations. The proposal is being circulated at the same time that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he wants to advance partisan redistricting. He says he won't move ahead if Texas pauses its efforts. Newsom said he'd call a special election for the first week of November. Voters would weigh a new congressional map drawn by the Democratic-controlled Legislature. 'California will not sit by idly and watch this democracy waste away,' Newsom said Monday. More than 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) from Austin, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appeared with Texas Democrats and argued their cause is national. 'We're not going to tolerate our democracy being stolen in a modern-day stagecoach heist by a bunch of law-breaking cowboys,' Hochul said Monday. 'If Republicans are willing to rewrite rules to give themselves an advantage, then they're leaving us with no choice: We must do the same. You have to fight fire with fire.' Status of the vote In Texas, legislators who left the state declined to say how long they'll hold out. 'We recognized when we got on the plane that we're in this for the long haul,' said Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer while in Illinois. Texas House Democratic Caucus leader Gene Wu said members 'will do whatever it takes' but added, 'What that looks like, we don't know.' Advertisement Legislative walkouts often only delay passage of a bill, like in 2021, when many Democrats left Texas for 38 days to protest proposed voting restrictions. Once they returned, Republicans passed that measure. Lawmakers cannot pass bills in the 150-member House without two-thirds of members present. Democrats hold 62 seats in the majority-Republican chamber, and at least 51 left the state, according to a Democratic aide. The Texas Supreme Court held in 2021 that House leaders could 'physically compel the attendance' of missing members, but no Democrats were forcibly brought back to the state after warrants were served. Republicans answered by adopting $500 daily fines for lawmakers who don't show. Abbott, meanwhile, continues to make unsubstantiated claims that some lawmakers have committed felonies by soliciting money to pay for potential fines for leaving Texas during the session. Barrow reported from Atlanta. Blood reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Washington, John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, and Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, also contributed to this report.
