What Democrats Can Learn From Gretchen Whitmer

The Ezra Klein Show

New York Times Opinion

Society & Culture, Government, News

4.6 • 11K Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2024

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Gretchen Whitmer is one of the names you often see on lists of Democratic V.P. contenders. She’s swatted that speculation down repeatedly, but the interest in her makes a lot of sense. Michigan is a must-win state for Democrats, and she has won the governorship of that state twice, by significant margins each time. She’s also long been one of the Democratic Party’s most talented and forthright messengers on abortion. So I think Whitmer has a lot to teach Democrats right now, whether she’s Kamala Harris’s running mate or not. In this conversation we discuss how her 2018 campaign slogan to “fix the damn roads” has translated into a governing philosophy, how she talks about reproductive rights in a swing state, what Democrats can learn from the success of female politicians in Michigan, how she sees the gender politics of the presidential election this year and more. Mentioned: True Gretch by Gretchen Whitmer “The Spartan: Why Gretchen Whitmer Has What It Takes for a White House Run” by Jennifer Palmieri “America’s New Political War Pits Young Men Against Young Women” by Aaron Zitner and Andrew Restuccia Book Recommendations: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin Burn Book by Kara Swisher To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs. This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by our senior editor, Claire Gordon. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld. The show’s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu, Elias Isquith, Kristin Lin and Aman Sahota. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Isaac Jones.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From New York Times opinion, this is the Ezra Klein Show. So it is Monday, July 29th when I'm recording this and we are deep in the
0:28.2	pivotal week of Vice President Harris's deep stakes. It is reported that she will make her decision by
0:33.9	August 7th and as somebody who wanted to see a sort of mini primary for Democrats
0:39.5	who made the argument that at the very least there should be a sort of contest of
0:43.4	the vice presidential candidates and town halls and forums in an organized way. What
0:49.2	has emerged in a disorganized way is much more like what I had hoped to see than I had ever expected.
0:55.3	I mean we've been watching Pete Budajajed and Governor Tim Walts of Minnesota and
0:59.7	Joshapir of Pennsylvania and Roy Cooper of North Carolina and Andy Bashir of Kentucky
1:04.1	just sort of fanning out across speeches across MS NBC and CNN on social media demoing how they would try to take JD Vance apart in a debate.
1:17.3	One person we have not heard as much from is Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
1:21.9	Whitmer said she is not interested in the vice presidency.
1:25.2	At the same time, there was reporting that she was being vetted.
1:27.8	She denied that reporting.
1:29.4	But Whitmer is an interesting figure for Democrats.
1:32.3	She was considered by Joe Biden for Vice President in 2020.
1:36.2	She has won the governorship of Michigan twice
1:39.6	by significant margins each time.
1:42.2	And she made her name nationally when she was the state
1:45.5	Senate minority leader fighting against a very anti-abortion bill.
1:50.1	I have a lot more prepared remarks here, but I think it's important for me to just
1:53.7	mention a couple things. When she gave a speech on the floor of the Senate
1:58.1	revealing which is something even her own father had not known that she'd been raped in
	...

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