Gretchen Whitmer Wants a Gen X President — in 2028
Whatever the result of this year’s election, it will most likely be the end of an era. Because of their ages — not to mention the law for whoever wins — it’s hard to imagine President Biden or former President Donald Trump running again in 2028, opening the door to a new generation of political leaders. And for Democrats, there are few politicians talked about more than Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.
Listen to the Conversation With Gretchen Whitmer
The governor of Michigan is busy trying to get Biden re-elected. But 2028 is just around the corner.
After serving more than a decade in the Michigan Legislature, Whitmer was elected to the governorship in 2018. She became a national figure during the pandemic, when right-wing media and Republican officials, including Trump, railed against her lockdown measures as extreme government overreach. (Whitmer blames Trump’s rhetoric for inspiring a 2020 kidnapping and assassination plot against her.)
But it was what Whitmer did in 2022 that really cemented her as a political force: With the help of legislative redistricting and a reproductive-rights ballot initiative, she gave Democrats a trifecta, winning re-election and flipping control of both the State House and Senate to her party for the first time in nearly 40 years. She has leveraged that majority to enact a progressive wish list of policies, including basic but meaningful gun-control legislation and a new clean-energy plan, and she’s pushing for universal pre-K and free community college.
Whitmer is term-limited though — her governorship will end in 2026. And given that she is a popular governor in a battleground state, there is a lot of speculation about what’s next, which is why I was eager to talk to her. Like many politicians with national ambitions, she has written a book about her life and her vision for the country. It’s called “True Gretch” (she told me that’s a play on the 1969 John Wayne classic “True Grit”). The book is coming out just as the presidential election is heating up, and she’s also raising her profile as a co-chair of Biden’s re-election campaign. Over the course of two conversations, we talked about Biden’s challenges, whether she can deliver the must-win state of Michigan and her own political ambitions.
I want to get the elephant out of the room: You’re releasing this memoir in the middle of the 2024 election cycle. Why now? It’s less of a memoir and more of a handbook. This is going to be another heavy year. It’s going to feel very dark at times, with the political rhetoric and this important election coming up. If I can put some light into the world right now, maybe you can laugh at my expense, or maybe there’s a little inspiration here that’ll help you get through whatever you’re navigating.
