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Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan said she believes the US is ready for a female president, echoing recent comments by former first lady Michelle Obama, who said US voters were not ready to elect a woman to the White House.
In an interview with NPR released Tuesday, Whitmer said she has “love” for the former first lady and “the last thing I want to do is disagree with her,” but she has a different perspective.
“I think America is ready for a female president,” Whitmer said. “The question is a choice between two people, and what we saw in the last election, while Kamala Harris did not defeat President Trump, we saw women getting elected all across the country.”
“We’ve seen women win elections in tough, important states, so I think there’s an appetite there,” she said. “For whatever reason, we haven’t had a female president yet. I think we will at some point in the near future.”
Michelle Obama says America is ‘not ready’ for a female president: ‘We saw that in the last election’
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she believes America is ready for a female president. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The governor cited the election victories of Democratic governments last year. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mickey Sherrill in New Jersey, as well as Senator Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., in 2024.
In November, Obama said Americans are “not ready” to elect a woman to the White House, pointing to former Vice President Kamala Harris’s loss to President Donald Trump in the last presidential election.
“As we looked inside this last electionSadly, we’re not ready,” the former first lady said at the time while promoting her book “The Look” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Nancy Pelosi thinks a woman will be elected president, but ‘probably not’ in her lifetime
Former First Lady Michelle Obama said Americans are “not ready” to elect a woman to the White House. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
She added, “So I want you to not even look at me about running, because you’re all lying. You’re not ready for a woman. You’re not… We have a lot of growing up to do, and sadly there are still a lot of men out there who don’t feel like they can be led by a woman, and we saw that.”
Pressed on whether Harris lost the presidential election to Trump because she is a woman, Whitmer responded: “I don’t think it was just gender, no.”
Whitmer, who is term limited and may not seek a third term as governor, said she currently has no plans to run for another term.
He has been named as a possible presidential candidate in 2028, but the governor said he is focused on serving Michigan and helping his party’s candidates win the upcoming midterm elections.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she doesn’t think former Vice President Kamala Harris lost to President Donald Trump just because she is a woman. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
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Asked how Democrats can win in the midterms this year, Whitmer pointed to her decision to “focus on the fundamentals” of her gubernatorial campaign.
“I don’t think Michigan is unique in this,” Whitmer said. “I think every person in this country wants and expects government to make their lives better, and that’s our formula in Michigan and I think it can be replicated successfully everywhere else.”
