Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) said she believes the United States is ready for a woman president, directly contrasting comments by former first lady Michelle Obama.
In an NPR interview released Tuesday, Whitmer said: “I think America is ready for a woman president.”
Obama, during her book tour last fall, stated that the country was “not ready” for a female president, citing Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 election loss to President Donald Trump. “As we saw in this past election, sadly, we ain’t ready,” Obama said.
Michelle Obama says she isn’t running for president because she feels America “ain’t ready,” and she doesn’t want to waste her time. pic.twitter.com/ZpZ7OcWyuQ
— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) November 15, 2025
Whitmer expressed respect for Obama while offering a different view. “I love Michelle Obama. So the last thing I want to do is disagree with her,” she said. “But, you know, I think America is ready for a woman president.”
She added: “We have not had a woman president yet. I think we will at some point in the near future.”
Whitmer argued that Harris’s defeat was not solely due to gender. “I don’t think it was just gender, no,” she said. She pointed to recent election successes by female Democratic candidates, including Governors Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), and Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).
“We saw women win up and down the ballot in hard, important states to win, so I do think there’s an appetite,” Whitmer said.
The interview also addressed the economic effects of President Trump’s tariffs. Whitmer said tariffs have “taken a terrible toll” on U.S. manufacturing, particularly in Michigan, home to the largest number of auto workers in the country.
“We know that tariffs have increased costs on the average American consumer, they’ve cost Americans jobs, they’ve made America a less competitive country as a whole and you can see what the toll is on American manufacturing,” she said. She cited “nine months of contraction” in manufacturing processes, adding: “We’re the canary in the coal mine, if you will. When America catches a cold, Michigan gets the flu.”
Whitmer also discussed preparations for potential election interference in future cycles. She said Democratic governors are conducting “tabletop” exercises to prepare, stating: “It would be a mistake to assume that they’re not going to.”
She added that it is not “paranoia” to be concerned that immigration enforcement measures could be used to influence elections, though she did not allege any specific current plans.
Whitmer, in her final term as governor due to term limits, said she has no current plans to run for another office. As vice chair of the Democratic Governors Association, she is focused on supporting Democratic candidates in the 2026 midterms.
