A few times each week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers a clear, forceful summary of the changes she’s implementing to keep Michiganders safe from COVID-19 on a state-run livestream. Later, she delivers a similar message on national television.
For Michiganders used to hearing from the governor mostly about how to ‘fix the damn roads,’ it’s not unusual now to flip on the TV and catch her on any of the major news or cable networks. She’s quoted in the New York Times, and appearing on everything from podcasts to bobbleheads.
She broke from political culture into pop culture when she was parodied drinking a Labatt on Saturday Night Live.
“They got the beer wrong,” she quipped, holding up a Bell’s Two Hearted Ale when asked about it later on Fox 2.
Whitmer has risen to national prominence in recent months, bringing attention to her home state and increasing speculation she’s angling to be Vice President. Her response to Michigan's coronavirus outbreak helped catapult her onto the national stage and will determine how she fares there, experts say.
“Clearly the COVID crisis really put a spotlight on governors and their leadership,” said Dianne Byrum, a close professional friend of the governor, who led the Democratic caucus for part of Whitmer’s time in the state House of Representatives.
Even back then, Byrum said Whitmer was a gifted orator and a natural leader who had a “terrific sense of humor” and gained respect on both sides of the aisle.
Now, the governor is marshaling those qualities and two decades of political experience to fight a pandemic world leaders and scientists are struggling to get their arms around.
Whitmer said at a press briefing Friday she is laser-focused on Michigan.
“I didn’t ask to be thrown into the national spotlight. I’ve been trying to do my job,” she said.
In Michigan, the pandemic thrust her into a national arena she’d only fleetingly courted in the past. Now, it’s testing her ability to effectively govern through an unprecedented situation while also navigating her home state’s political landscape.
Coronavirus handling under scrutiny as she’s considered for VP
Angry protesters have twice surrounded the capitol grounds across from Whitmer’s office to protest the governor’s handling of the coronavirus, chanting and in some cases carrying guns.
They garnered support from Republican legislative leaders and, via Twitter, President Donald Trump.
Whitmer, by her own characterization, has acted aggressively to stop the spread of COVID-19, a respiratory illness that has sickened more than 40,000 Michigan residents and killed more than 3,000.
She moved to close schools and restaurants within days of the state’s initial outbreak and issued a stay-at-home order within two weeks. Most recently, she required people to wear masks in public places.
It hasn’t sat well with the state’s Republican leaders.
“Michigan now has earned the distinction of having a Governor, drunk on the addiction of unfettered power, declaring that she, and she alone, can and will continue to act unilaterally to lock down our society, our culture, and our economy,” Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clark Lake, wrote in a Facebook post on May 1.
But her response also caught the eye of Republicans nationally, who see her as an election-year ally of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, and possibly his pick for a running-mate.
Biden has said publicly Whitmer is on his list. On March 31, he told MSNBC’s Brian Williams he hadn’t added Whitmer’s name to the list due to her coronavirus response, because she “made the list two months ago.”
Whitmer has batted away vice-presidential talk.
“There have been different opportunities to run for federal office, and I’ve been recruited, and I’ve never seriously thought about any of it because going to Washington D.C. does not appeal to me," Whitmer told MLive when asked about the position in a February interview.
But her dismissals have only fueled the speculation. Counterintuitively, saying you don’t want to be vice president is historically an indication you’re in the running to be vice president, says Kyle Kopko, associate professor of political science at Elizabethtown College who has co-authored two books on the vice presidency.
“That's the norm, to deny it. That’s one of the ways to get noticed, believe it or not,” Kopko said.
And she’s certainly caught the eye of President Donald Trump, who in March said in a press briefing he was urging Vice President Pence not to call “the woman in Michigan.”
Whitmer -- who Byrum described as always being able to laugh at herself -- brushed it off, appearing on The Daily Show in a “that woman from Michigan” shirt.
But before the president dubbed Whitmer ‘the woman in Michigan,’ she was Gretchen from East Lansing.
She grew up in the Lansing and Grand Rapids areas in a politically-involved family with mixed viewpoints. Her father worked for former Republican Gov. Bill Milliken, while her mother worked for former Democratic Attorney General Frank Kelley.
An avid sports fan and Spartan twice over – she went to undergraduate and law school at Michigan State University -- Whitmer wanted to be a sports broadcaster before she ultimately set out on a political career. She was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2000 and began serving at age 29.
She rose through the ranks quickly, was elected to the Senate in 2006 and ended her legislative career in 2015 as Senate Minority Leader. She taught at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy and served as interim Ingham County Prosecutor before running for governor.
Her response to Trump’s criticism didn’t surprise former Democratic Sen. Steve Bieda, of Warren, who said fighting bullies was one of Whitmer’s first breakout national moments back in 2011, when she gave a heartfelt speech on the Senate floor against exemptions Republicans had included in an anti-bullying law.
Now, he sees the same sense of determination as she faces Trump and an unprecedented virus.
"I think Trump sort of made her, in a weird way, because he attacked ‘that woman from Michigan’ and it’s sort of like ‘well no, she’s fighting for the people in Michigan she’s fighting for their health and safety, she’s fighting for supplies,’” Bieda said.
‘The woman in Michigan’ struggles for Republican cooperation
As the spotlight trains on Whitmer, coronavirus is “issue number one, number two and number three on most people's minds, and it's a forum for executive action," said Adrian Hemond, partner and CEO of political consulting firm Grassroots Midwest.
It also poses a challenge for her, if she does have aspirations to federal office.
Ron Fournier, president of public relations firm Truscott Rossman, worked as a reporter covering Bill Clinton as he governed Arkansas with an eye on Washington, D.C.
He said anybody in that position, including Whitmer, is vulnerable to looking like they’re not focused on the task at hand.
“Every time a Michigan voter sees her on MSNBC, they might wonder ‘why is she not behind her desk in Lansing?’” Fournier said.
But he said the coronavirus crisis is an opportunity for her to show her stripes.
“The best thing for a governor to do when they're seeking the presidency or the vice presidency is to do a really good job of governing,” Fournier said.
“And at the at the end of the day, if she gets everything right in Lansing, if she works with Republicans and unites the state up behind a sensible plan to bring back the economy safely and quickly, it'll increase her stock as a vice president presidential candidate.”
Working with Republicans, though, is a bridge Whitmer hasn’t crossed during this public health crisis.
She started her term as governor saying she would work closely with Shirkey and House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, springing off her campaign theme of “building bridges.”
But those bipartisan relationships have all but disintegrated. Her first year in office, she failed to reach a roads deal with Republicans, and they moved forward on a budget without her. She vetoed nearly $1 billion from that budget, and used administrative transfers to move allocated funding around, angering Republicans and leading to a lengthy and contentious re-debate of the budget.
When coronavirus hit, Whitmer used her executive authority to declare a state of emergency and began issuing strict orders. Republicans chafed at some of the restrictions and publicly supported parts of the protests against her stay-at-home order.
Now, Republican leadership is poised to sue Whitmer after they declined to extend the state of emergency that gives her broad, unilateral power. Whitmer, for her part, has continued the state of emergency and vowed to veto Republican legislation that would curb her powers.
It seems off to Randy Richardville, a Republican who served with her in the House and was her more powerful counterpart in the Senate as Senate Majority Leader. As her friend then, he admired her sense of humor and the fact that "she’s not afraid to throw back” in spirited discussions.
But these days, he’d love to bring her back to a more serious moment they had at a downtown Lansing restaurant. It was a time when former Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop were, as he put it, at each other’s throats.
“We said, look, if we are ever in leadership, let's not be like that. And now she's sitting there, and it's starting to smell a little bit like that," Richardville said.
He sees working across the aisle as fundamental to her effectively leading the state right now and showing she’s focused on Michigan, not a national office.
Whitmer won 17 of the state’s 83 counties in the 2018 election, including the three most populous of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb.
“There's 83 counties in the state. And she won three, the three biggest counties by a big margin, while the other 80 counties are saying ‘you know you're our governor too, so listen to what we're saying,’” he said.
“And that’s how she could become a statesperson and not just a governor, is rising above the partisanship and having people from all angles say, ‘that’s my leader and I’m proud of her.’”
Note: This story has been edited to reflect the number of counties Whitmer won in 2018.
COVID-19 PREVENTION TIPS
In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus.
Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible.
Carry hand sanitizer with you and use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and when you go into places like stores.
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