Gretchen Whitmer

Gretchen Esther Whitmer (born August 23, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2019 as the 49th governor of Michigan. A member of the Democratic Party, she served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 2001 to 2006 and in the Michigan Senate from 2006 to 2015. Whitmer was born and raised in Michigan. She graduated from Forest Hills Central High School, Michigan State University, and the Detroit College of Law. Her political career began in 2000 when she was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives. In 2006, she won a special election to the state senate, serving in that chamber until 2015, and became its first female Democratic leader from 2011 to 2015. In 2013, Whitmer gained national attention for a floor speech during a debate on abortion in which she shared her experience of being sexually assaulted. For six months in 2016, she was the prosecutor for Ingham County. Whitmer was elected governor in 2018, defeating Republican nominee Bill Schuette, the state attorney general. Whitmer has identified herself as a progressive. As governor, she has focused on healthcare and infrastructure legislation. In February 2020, she was selected to give the Democratic response to then President Donald Trump's 2020 State of the Union Address. In October 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation thwarted a far-right militia group's kidnapping plot against Whitmer. Since January 2021, Whitmer has served as one of the vice chairs of the Democratic National Committee. She was reelected as governor in 2022, defeating Republican nominee Tudor Dixon.