Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a potential 2028 candidate, wants to find common ground with Trump

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer addresses the press before on Wednesday, July 20, 2022 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wants a fresh start with President-elect Donald Trump but also warns that she won’t back down over tariffs that she believes would hurt the auto industry in her state.

The second-term governor will give her first major speech Wednesday since Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, for whom Whitmer campaigned across the Midwest. Her remarks at the Detroit Auto Show will be watched in Michigan, where she has two years left in her final term, and by people looking for new leadership within the national Democratic Party.

Whitmer faces a more challenging political landscape than other rising Democrats who could run for president in 2028. She must navigate a divided state legislature while solidifying her legacy in a state that went for Trump in two of the last three elections.

In advance excerpts provided to The Associated Press, Whitmer plans to call both on “friends” in the GOP and “fellow Democrats” to compromise. She says she wants to work with Trump but also is reaching out to officials in neighboring Canada, which the president-elect has accused of cheating the U.S. on trade and has suggested should become part of America.

“There’s been a lot of talk about tariffs. I’m not opposed to tariffs outright, but we can’t treat them like a ‘one size fits all’ solution. And we certainly shouldn’t use them to punish our closest trading partners,” Whitmer plans to say.

Ahead of the speech, Whitmer spoke with the AP to outline her vision and message going forward. Here are excerpts from that conversation:

What has your outreach with Trump looked like so far?

Whitmer confirmed Tuesday that she has not yet spoken with Trump but hopes “to connect with him in the next couple of weeks.”

WHITMER: “I am planning to attend the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, D.C., I think it’s the beginning of next month, and attend the dinner at the White House that the governors always have with the president.”

“I do look forward to connecting with the incoming president, because we’ve got a lot of important things, and the people of Michigan elected us both twice, just two years apart, both times, and I suspect we can find common ground on some things and that’s my job.”

Have you spoken to fellow Democratic governors about your approach towards Trump?

WHITMER: “I have shared with some of my colleagues from some of the very blue states that my situation here in Michigan is very different than theirs. I’ve got a Republican House of Representatives — majority Republican House — now to work with.”

“I’ve got to make sure that I can deliver and work with folks of the federal government, and so I don’t view myself as the leader of the opposition like some might.”

Would you commit law enforcement officers to a mass deportation effort?

On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to initiate a mass deportation of immigrants who are in the United States illegally and vowed to get started on day one. Many Republican states and elected officials have pledged their resources to assist his vision.

How Democratic governors respond will likely be one of the biggest tests of their working relationships with Trump.

WHITMER: “I think that it’s premature to say, to anticipate exactly what the Trump administration will do. We’ve been doing some preparation for a number of different scenarios, but I don’t want to prejudge it.”

“On the campaign, people say certain things. It’s another thing when they get into office, where they want to spend their energy and the finite resources of government. And so we’ll see what they do.”

Are voters ready to accept a woman as president of the U.S.?

The United States has yet to elect a female president, despite two of the three most recent Democratic presidential candidates being women, with voters rejecting both Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris in their bids. A significant number of Democrats believe it may be decades before the United States will get its first female president, according to a recent AP poll.

Whitmer, who some Democrats hope will run in the 2028 race, could be among the next candidates to try to break that streak.

WHITMER: “Absolutely. And, you know, lots of men have run for president and lost. And no one concludes that people don’t want a male president.”

“So for anyone to state that it’s about gender probably betrays that they’ve got their own agenda at stake, as opposed to really looking at what happened in this last election.”