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***

Gretchen Whitmer first
gained attention when she
ran for governor of Michigan
with an unforgettable cam-
paign slogan: “Fix the Damn
Roads.”
The back-to-basics ap-
proach led Whitmer to over-
whelmingly claim the seat in
2018, positioning her as a
Democratic fresh face capa-
ble of winning back the Mid-
western voters who aban-
doned Hillary Clinton two
years prior.
Now, the first-term gover-
nor is facing the biggest cri-
sis of her tenure, a death toll
from the coronavirus that
exceeds all but two states, as
she faces new scrutiny after
likely Democratic presi-
dential nominee Joe Biden
confirmed she was on his
short list for a running mate.
Political experts say
Whitmer’s resume and biog-
raphy make her a natural for
consideration as a vice presi-
dential pick.
“She’s far outside the
Washington bubble ... an im-
portant counterbalance to
Biden, who’s spent 50 years
on either end of Pennsylva-
nia Avenue. More impor-
tantly, she led a Democratic
wave in a big Midwestern
state that will be critical to
Donald Trump’s reelection,”
said Robert Yoon, a visiting
political communications
professor at the University
of Michigan.
“Whitmer has only been a
governor for a little more
than a year, which in a nor-
mal election year would
probably become a major
talking point,” Yoon said.
“But I think it’s more likely
that she’ll be evaluated posi-
tively or negatively for her
handling of a historic global
crisis rather than the length
of time she’s been in office.”
Whitmer signed a stay-
at-home mandate on March
23, four days after California

Gov. Gavin Newsom issued

the first such order in the na-

tion.

She has strongly indi-

cated she will extend the re-

strictions, which are set to

expire on April 14.

Republicans argue that

Whitmer, 48, lacks the expe-

rience or the achievements

to be a heartbeat away from

the White House. Her first-

year attempt to fix the roads

through a 45-cents-per-gal-

lon gas tax failed miserably.

She criticized the federal

government for its co-

ronavirus response, but she

was late in filing a request for

afederal disaster declara-

tion.

“I understand the elec-

toral thinking of picking a fe-

male governor of Michigan. I

understand the logic of that,

but she’s not really tested in

a big way,” said GOP strate-

gist Trent Wisecup, a Michi-

gan native who has worked

on the presidential cam-

paigns of Jeb Bush and Mitt

Romney and on the Califor-

nia gubernatorial cam-

paigns of Meg Whitman and

Arnold Schwarzenegger. “I

think she’s a talented politi-

cian. I don’t think she’s

ready for the national stage.”

Trump has been critical

of Democratic governors

throughout the coronavirus

crisis, but he has singled out

Whitmer for some of his

harshest words. He has

dubbed her “Gretchen ‘Half ’

Whitmer,” and said she was

clueless and “in over her

head.” He asked Vice Presi-

dent Mike Pence not to call

“the woman in Michigan.”

After Trump told Fox

News host Sean Hannity re-

cently that he was having “a

big problem with the young

—a woman governor from —

you know who I’m talking

about — from Michigan,”

Whitmer responded on

Twitter with an emoji of a

hand waving hello.

“Hi, my name is Gretchen

Whitmer, and that governor

is me,” Whitmer wrote. “I’ve

asked repeatedly and re-

spectfully for help. We need

it. No more political attacks,

just PPEs, ventilators, N

masks, test kits. You said

you stand with Michigan —

prove it.”

One minute later, she

added, “PS: I’m happy to

work with the VP! We get

along well.”

Trump’s repeated refer-

ences to Whitmer by gender

but not by name has led to

activists to rally around the

phrase “That woman from

Michigan.” Whitmer wore a

blue T-shirt emblazoned

with the phrase on the “The

Daily Show with Trevor No-

ah” on Wednesday.

The daughter of two at-

torneys who worked in Mich-

igan state government,

Whitmer went to Michigan

State University for her un-

dergraduate and law de-

grees. She served in the state

Legislature for 14 years,

eventually becoming the

Senate minority leader. She

was the first woman to lead a

party caucus in the state. In

2018, she won the governor’s

race by nearly 10 points, after

eight years of Republican

rule.

She won the most votes

any governor had ever re-

ceived in the state. Her slo-

gan — “Fix the Damn

Roads” — resonated with a

wide swath of Michiganders.

Whitmer’s victory was espe-

cially notable two years after

Hillary Clinton lost the state

—which had voted Demo-

cratic in presidential elec-

tions since 1992 — to Donald

Trump by less than 11,

votes.

Whitmer pulled together

a coalition of black voters,

suburban women and blue-

collar workers, and reduced

the margins of her losses in

conservative parts of the

state. That’s the formula

Democrats need to follow in

2020 to win the state, which

is viewed as key to their

chances of taking the White

House.

Veteran Democratic

strategist Jill Alper of

Grosse Pointe, Mich., said

Whitmer’s success was driv-

en by the fact she isn’t an

ideologue.

“She has a no-nonsense,

brass-tacks, let’s-get-it-

done attitude that is very ap-

pealing,” said Alper, who ad-

vised and raised money for

Clinton in 2016. “The whole

moniker ‘Fix the Damn

Roads’ demonstrated her

outrage about common-

sense, everyday problems

people are facing that wer-

en’t being addressed.”

In a sign that Democratic

leaders saw her potential,

Whitmer was chosen to de-

liver the party’s response to

the president’s State of the

Union address this year.

Biden said he was looking

at Whitmer as a running

mate before her handling of

the pandemic pushed her

into the national spotlight.

“She made the list, in my

mind, two months ago,” Bid-

en said on Tuesday on

MSNBC, adding that he ex-

pects his campaign to vet six

to 10 women.

Whitmer, a national co-

chair of Biden’s campaign,

has said she was not inter-

ested in joining the Demo-

cratic ticket, and that Biden

should pick a woman of col-

or.

“I have never wanted to

move to Washington, D.C.,

I’ll just be very honest with

you,” she said on March 6, ac-

cording to WWMT, a CBS af-

filiate in Kalamazoo, Mich. “I

am 14 months into the job

that I am so grateful for and I

have a lot of work to do.”

A Trump target raises her electoral profile

GRETCHEN WHITMER won election as Michigan’s governor in 2018 on a slogan to fix the state’s roads, but

she is now facing a major crisis as the death toll from the coronavirus exceeds that of all but two states.

Associated Press

Michigan Gov.

Gretchen Whitmer

is in the president’s

line of fire over

coronavirus response.

By Seema Mehta

‘She led a

Democratic wave

in a ... state that

will be critical to

Donald Trump’s

reelection.’

—Robert Yoon,

political communications

professor, on Michigan

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer