Gretchen Esther Whitmer (born August 23, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 49th governor of Michigan since 2019. 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 is a graduate of Forest Hills Central High School, Michigan State University, and the Detroit College of Law. She ran unsuccessfully for the state House of Representatives in the 1990s before being elected in 2000. In 2006, she became a state senator, a position she kept until 2015. She was the Senate's 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 and state attorney general Bill Schuette.
As governor, Whitmer 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. On October 8, the Federal Bureau of Investigation thwarted a 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 governor in 2022, defeating Republican nominee Tudor Dixon.
Early life and education
Gretchen 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. Her father was head of the state 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. Whitmer's mother worked as an assistant attorney general under Michigan Attorney General, Frank J. Kelley. Her parents divorced when she was ten years old. 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.
From 1985 to 1989, Whitmer attended Forest Hills Central High School near Grand Rapids, Michigan, participating in the school's softball and track and field teams.
After graduating from Forest Hills, Whitmer enrolled at Michigan State University to study communications, with the intent of becoming a broadcaster for ESPN. While in college she became an intern for state representative Curtis Hertel, which convinced her to study law. In 1998 she received her Juris Doctor from Michigan State's College of Law and began practicing law at the Dickinson Wright law firm's Lansing offices.
State legislature
House of Representatives
In 2000, Whitmer, then chairwoman of the East Lansing Transportation Commission, was elected to represent the Michigan House of Representatives' 70th district, receiving 17,409 votes and defeating Republican nominee Bill Hollister. She was reelected to the 69th House district in 2002 and 2004. In 2005, she was voted Most Effective Democrat of the Michigan House.
State Senate
In March 2006, Whitmer won a special election to the Michigan State Senate, replacing Virg Bernero, who had been elected mayor of Lansing in November 2005. She was elected to a full term in November, and reelected in 2010. In 2011, Whitmer's Democratic colleagues unanimously chose her to be the Senate Democratic Leader, making her the first woman to lead a party caucus in the Senate. Due to term limits, Whitmer was unable to run for reelection in 2014 and left office in 2015. In 2013, she received national recognition when she discussed her experience of being sexually assaulted. She told the story during a debate about abortion rights, particularly for victims of rape, arguing victims should be allowed to terminate pregnancies that result from rape.
Ingham County prosecutor
On May 11, 2016, it was announced that the judges of Michigan's 30th Judicial Circuit Court had unanimously selected Whitmer to serve the remaining six months of outgoing Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III's term, after he was arrested on March 14, 2016, and charged with 11 counts of involvement with a prostitute and four counts of willful neglect of duty. In a letter dated March 29, 2016, Dunnings announced he would resign effective July 2.