Gretchen Whitmer

Gretchen Esther Whitmer is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 49th governor of Michigan since 2019. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Whitmer was born and raised in Michigan and is a graduate of Forest Hills Central High School, Michigan State University, and the Detroit College of Law. She served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 2001 to 2006 and in the Michigan Senate from 2006 to 2015. From 2011 to 2015, Whitmer was the Senate's first female Democratic leader. In 2016, she briefly served as the prosecutor for Ingham County. Whitmer gained national attention in 2013 for her passionate floor speech on abortion, where she shared her personal experience of being sexually assaulted.