Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer got one of the most valuable speaking engagements at the Democratic National Convention ― on the final night and in prime time, just a few speakers ahead of presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s speech.
And Whitmer used that opportunity to promote the vice president as someone who understands the challenges facing ordinary Americans, who is qualified to govern in a crisis and who can get things done.
“Kamala Harris knows who she’s fighting for,” Whitmer said. “Kamala Harris, she gets us. She sees us. She is us.”
In emphasizing these qualities, Whitmer drew a clear contrast with the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump. He portrayed Trump as a tycoon who had probably never set foot in a grocery store and as someone who could not be trusted to manage a crisis.
“One day, when you’re trying to get everybody out the door, a news report goes off,” Whitmer said, describing an imaginary crisis. “Something happened, something went wrong. You wonder, Is my family OK? And then you wonder, Who the hell is in charge? What if it’s him? What if it’s the guy from Mar-a-Lago?”
Whitmer, on the other hand, said Harris is “tough, tested and a total badass.”
Of course, people have said the same thing about Whitmer, who feuded with Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic and has emerged as one of the country’s fiercest defenders of abortion rights.
In 2022, Whitmer won re-election by more than 10 percentage points. That performance, in a closely divided state that is key to the Democratic presidential fortunes, fueled speculation that she could one day end up on a national ticket.
That speculation grew more intense and urgent in late June, when it became clear that President Joe Biden might abandon his reelection bid. Polls testing hypothetical matches showed Whitmer as one of the Democrats’ strongest potential challengers to Trump.
But the matchup wasn’t to be. When Biden announced his decision, Whitmer quickly said she wasn’t interested and was endorsing Harris ― and soon after, she said she wasn’t interested in being Harris’ running mate.
The first decision was entirely predictable, given how quickly Harris consolidated her support in the party. The second decision was a bit more surprising, given Whitmer’s potential to lock down Michigan in the general election ― although, to be fair, the odds of Harris rolling the dice on a two-woman ticket were always pretty low.
Whitmer, by the way, has always maintained that she simply wants to keep her promise to finish her second term as governor. This claim seems plausible, given her intense, almost foolish support for her home state.
But while Whitmer isn’t on the candidate list, her style of politics is.
It’s most evident in the politician Harris did choose as a running mate: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. He’s basically a male Whitmer, and not just because he’s also the governor of an Upper Midwest state. He has the same down-to-earth style, the same I-could-be-your-neighbor effect.
He is governing in the same way, using newly elected Democratic majorities to push through a series of new initiatives, such as free school meals for children, now in effect in both Michigan and Minnesota. These initiatives use government to improve people’s lives in clear, tangible ways.
Neither has a track record as a progressive crusader, despite Republican efforts to paint Walz as a radical. On health care, for example, they talk about expanding existing Medicaid programs, not creating “Medicare for All.”
That doesn’t mean they’re soft. “Moderation” in the Democratic Party once meant triangulating between left and right, avoiding strong positions ― or strong words ― that might antagonize someone. Walz and Whitmer’s model of moderation is strong, even fierce, especially when it comes to defending personal freedoms like reproductive rights.
And Harris now says this is the way she wants to govern.
In her month on the campaign trail, she hasn’t talked about ambitious reforms that will transform America. Instead, she’s focused on narrower, concrete reform efforts ― more money for child care, giving the federal government more power over drug prices ― that can improve people’s lives the way Walz and Whitmer have improved theirs.
It’s a departure from her rhetoric and promises during the 2020 primaries, when she embraced a more progressive agenda. But that was a time when Harris struggled to introduce herself to the Democratic electorate and compete for votes with more progressive candidates like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
Harris aides have said she is no longer interested in pursuing those progressive goals. Republicans say those promises are not sincere, and that it is ultimately up to Harris to show that they are.
But Whitmer made clear Thursday that she believes Harris is the same kind of Democrat she and Walz are: Democrats who focus on accomplishing what they can because they believe that’s the best way to improve people’s lives.
