85 Facts About Gretchen Whitmer

Gretchen Esther Whitmer is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 49th governor of Michigan since 2019.

Gretchen Whitmer graduated from Michigan State University with a bachelor's degree in communication in 1993 and a Juris Doctor degree in 1998.

Gretchen Whitmer was elected governor in 2018, defeating Republican nominee Bill Schuette, the state attorney general.

Since January 2021, Gretchen Whitmer has served as one of the vice chairs of the Democratic National Committee.

Gretchen Whitmer was reelected as governor in 2022, defeating Republican nominee Tudor Dixon.

Gretchen Esther Whitmer was born on August 23,1971, in Lansing, Michigan, the eldest of three children of Sharon H "Sherry" Reisig and Richard Whitmer, who were both attorneys.

Gretchen Whitmer's father was head of the Michigan department of commerce under Governor William Milliken, a Republican, and the president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan from 1988 to 2006.

Gretchen Whitmer's mother worked as an assistant attorney general under Michigan Attorney General, Frank J Kelley.

Gretchen Whitmer's parents divorced when she was ten years old, after which she and her siblings moved with their mother to Grand Rapids; her father traveled from his home in Detroit to visit the family at least once a week.

Gretchen Whitmer attended a Christian summer camp in West Virginia for several summers; during one such summer, she was injured during a game of tag, losing both of her front teeth.

Gretchen Whitmer said that she "got it together" after that incident and was eventually awarded most improved student.

Gretchen Whitmer graduated in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts with a major in communication.

Gretchen Whitmer attended the Michigan State University College of Law, where she was a member of the Michigan State Law Review.

Gretchen Whitmer then entered private practice in the Lansing office of the Detroit law firm Dickinson Wright.

In 1999, Gretchen Whitmer was elected chair of the East Lansing Transportation Commission.

In 2000, Gretchen Whitmer ran for the Michigan House of Representatives' 70th district to succeed representative Laura Baird.

Gretchen Whitmer campaigned on education and healthcare reform and environmental protections.

Gretchen Whitmer was reelected to the 69th House district in 2002 and 2004 and served as vice chair of the Michigan House Appropriations Committee.

In 2003, Gretchen Whitmer introduced a bill in the Michigan House that would raise taxes on alcohol and improve fire protection in the state, a proposition that earned the attention and support of then-governor Jennifer Granholm.

In 2005, Gretchen Whitmer was voted Most Effective Democrat of the Michigan House.

In March 2006, Gretchen Whitmer won a special election to the Michigan State Senate, replacing Virg Bernero, who had been elected mayor of Lansing in November 2005.

Gretchen Whitmer was elected to a full term in November, and reelected in 2010.

On May 11,2016, it was announced that the judges of Michigan's 30th Judicial Circuit Court had unanimously selected Gretchen Whitmer to serve the remaining six months of outgoing Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III's term.

On June 21,2016, Gretchen Whitmer was administered the oath of office as prosecutor by Ingham County Circuit Court Chief Judge Janelle Lawless.

In July 2016, Gretchen Whitmer issued an 11-page report on whether Dunnings's offenses had affected cases the office handled.

On January 3,2017, Gretchen Whitmer announced she would run in the 2018 Michigan gubernatorial race.

Gretchen Whitmer was reelected to a second term in 2022, defeating Republican nominee Tudor Dixon.

Gretchen Whitmer won by nearly 11 points, a larger margin than many analysts and election watchers predicted, with polling showing a tightening race in the weeks before election day in what was expected to be a tough midterm election for Democrats in battleground states like Michigan.

Gretchen Whitmer won 18 counties and expanded her margins in several vote-rich, bellwether areas of the state, including Oakland, Macomb, and Kent Counties.

Gretchen Whitmer describes herself as a progressive Democrat, who can work with state legislators from different political perspectives.

Gretchen Whitmer directed the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy to form an investigation that "state Republicans, flooding victim advocates and dam safety experts" criticized, concerned that the state's environmental agency would essentially be investigating itself.

In March 2020, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gretchen Whitmer issued a stay-at-home order.

Gretchen Whitmer extended Michigan's stay-at-home order several times before lifting it on June 1,2020, when she moved the state to "phase four" of her reopening plan.

In May 2021, Gretchen Whitmer apologized after being photographed with a large group of unmasked people, with no social distancing, at a restaurant in East Lansing.

In February 2020, Gretchen Whitmer was selected to deliver the Democratic response to the State of the Union address by then President Donald Trump.

Michigan was considered a swing state in the 2020 United States presidential election, and it was speculated that Democrats hoped selecting Gretchen Whitmer would bolster their chance of winning the state.

In early March, days before the 2020 Michigan Democratic presidential primary, Gretchen Whitmer endorsed Joe Biden, and joined his campaign as a national co-chair.

In 2020, amid her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as after tweets in which Trump attacked her and dismissed her as "the woman in Michigan", Gretchen Whitmer changed the wording to the more specific "that woman in Michigan" in speeches and on T-shirts, gaining a greater national profile as Trump's original wording was forgotten.

Gretchen Whitmer was vetted by Biden's team as a potential running mate during the 2020 Democratic Party vice presidential candidate selection; Biden confirmed she was on his shortlist in March.

Gretchen Whitmer was seen as having strong prospects of being offered a position in Biden's cabinet.

Gretchen Whitmer co-chaired Biden's inaugural committee, and in early January 2021, then-President-elect Biden nominated her as a vice chair candidate for the Democratic National Committee; the committee elected Gretchen Whitmer and the rest of the slate of candidates on January 20 unopposed.

In 2023, Gretchen Whitmer declined to speak directly with Representative Dean Phillips regarding his effort to try to convince her to enter the Democratic Party presidential primary race to oppose Biden.

Gretchen Whitmer said she would not accept an offer to be Harris's running mate.

Gretchen Whitmer called the plotters "sick and depraved men" and blamed Trump for refusing to explicitly condemn far-right groups and for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Gretchen Whitmer describes herself as a progressive Democrat who can work with legislators with different political perspectives.

In September 2021, Whitmer began working with the state legislature to repeal a 90-year-old law that banned abortion in Michigan, so as to preserve abortion rights in the state in case Roe v Wade was overturned.

Gretchen Whitmer is in favor of using corporate incentives to attract business and manufacturing to Michigan.

In 2018, as a candidate for governor, Gretchen Whitmer spoke at Hash Bash to endorse Proposal 1 to legalize recreational cannabis in Michigan.

Gretchen Whitmer said she had supported legalizing cannabis "before it was politically fashionable" and pledged to legalize and regulate it to increase revenue for road repairs and prevent children from accessing it.

Gretchen Whitmer has said she would like to phase in full-day universal pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds in Michigan.

Gretchen Whitmer eliminated Michigan's third-grade "read-or-flunk" policy, which she says penalizes students the education system has failed; she wants to work to improve their reading skills.

Gretchen Whitmer proposes that all high school students be offered two years of debt-free higher education, either college or post-secondary training for skilled trades.

In 2020, Gretchen Whitmer launched the Futures for Frontliners program, providing tuition-free access to an associate degree or professional certification program for Michiganders who served as essential workers during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gretchen Whitmer has ordered the closure of major oil pipelines in Michigan and supports renewable energy initiatives.

Gretchen Whitmer has been endorsed by the Sierra Club's Michigan Chapter.

In February 2019, Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order that reorganized some state government departments; the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality became the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.

In January 2021, Gretchen Whitmer called for a ban on all weapons inside the Michigan State Capitol in response to armed protestors in April 2020.

In 2019, Gretchen Whitmer joined 11 other governors in calling for "common sense gun legislation".

Gretchen Whitmer strongly supported the six bills, which were passed in the aftermath of the 2021 Oxford High School shooting and 2023 Michigan State University shooting, and she signed the package into law in April 2023.

In May 2023, Gretchen Whitmer signed a red flag law; that law took effect in February 2024.

Gretchen Whitmer has said she would fight Republican efforts to take away protections for patients with preexisting conditions.

Gretchen Whitmer spoke against single-payer healthcare as unrealistic on a state level in 2018 but said she supports and thinks there is a good opportunity to enact federal-level Medicare for All.

Gretchen Whitmer said she would work to lower the cost of prescription drugs and would get rid of Schuette's drug immunity law, which she believes protects drug companies from legal trouble if their drugs harm or kill people.

Gretchen Whitmer played a key role in passing Michigan's Medicaid expansion in 2013 as Senate minority leader, delivering Democratic votes needed to pass it.

Also during her first term, Gretchen Whitmer established the Healthy Moms Healthy Babies program to help reduce infant mortality rates in low-income populations and address racial disparities in care provided for mothers and infants, and secured an expansion of postpartum Medicaid coverage providing up to 35,000 mothers with health services for a year postpartum to help reduce pregnancy-related deaths.

Gretchen Whitmer signed a bipartisan bill into law in 2020 to end surprise medical billing in Michigan by requiring providers to negotiate bills for out-of-network emergency services with a patient's insurance company instead of the patient.

In 2021, Gretchen Whitmer declared that Michigan was ready to accept Afghan refugee families fleeing the country amid the Taliban takeover following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Gretchen Whitmer praised Michigan's "rich history of multiculturalism" and said the state was prepared "to help ensure those who arrive in Michigan can get their feet on the ground".

In 2019, Gretchen Whitmer canceled the sale of a former state prison over the purchasing company's plans to operate the facility as an immigrant detention center.

Gretchen Whitmer disapproved of Trump's plan to exclude illegal immigrants from the 2020 United States census.

In 2020, Gretchen Whitmer announced the Rebuilding Michigan program, providing $3.5 billion in state funding for over 120 road projects for the next five years, with a focus on major roads with the greatest economic impact and traffic volume.

Gretchen Whitmer has invested over $2 billion in water infrastructure improvements since taking office.

Gretchen Whitmer secured $1.7 billion in water infrastructure investments as part of a nearly $5 billion bipartisan infrastructure deal signed into law in 2022.

Gretchen Whitmer created the office of the Clean Water Public Advocate in 2019 and has enforced Michigan's recently updated lead and copper drinking water rule, which has the nation's strictest standards for drinking water contamination.

Gretchen Whitmer has been a longtime advocate for expanding Michigan's civil rights law to include LGBT individuals.

In 2020, Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order expanding access to mail-in voting.

The 2024 packages of bills Gretchen Whitmer signed include a bill to regulate political disinformation campaigns by requiring artificial intelligence-generated political ads to contain disclaimers.

Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation reinstating a prevailing wage law, which mandates that contractors hired for projects with the state pay union-level wages.

Gretchen Whitmer and her first husband Gary Shrewsbury have two daughters, born 19 months apart.

Shortly after she gave birth to her first child in 2002, Gretchen Whitmer's mother died of glioblastoma.

Gretchen Whitmer was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2023.

Gretchen Whitmer is known by the nickname "Big Gretch", coined by rapper Sada Baby.

The rapper said Gretchen Whitmer deserved Cartier buffalo horn sunglasses, or "buffs", a symbol of respect in Detroit.

In late March 2020, Gretchen Whitmer gained national attention when President Donald Trump was reported to have told Vice President Mike Pence "don't call the woman in Michigan", ostensibly in response to Gretchen Whitmer's earlier criticisms of the Trump Administration's initial response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Gretchen Whitmer is known for wearing deep magenta lipstick, which a Detroit makeup store, The Lip Bar, released as a product called "Big Gretch".