LANSING, Michigan – In a speech Wednesday, Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made a direct appeal to young men who shifted sharply to the right in the most recent election, while also calling on all major parties to work together.
Whitmer’s speech came just days after she sat next to President Donald Trump at a White House dinner and expressed her desire to find common ground with him. Whitmer, a potential 2028 presidential candidate with a national profile based on advocating for women’s rights, emphasized that her message was addressed “to all young people, but especially to our young men.”
“The last thing any of us wants is a generation of young men falling behind their fathers and grandfathers,” Whitmer told the crowd.
In the November election, young men overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump. According to the AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of over 120,000 voters, he increased his share of Black and Latino voters from 2020, particularly among men under the age of 45. Many respondents cited Trump’s economic policies and job opportunities.
Whitmer acknowledged areas where women have outperformed men in recent years, such as educational attainment and home ownership. She claims that twice as many women as men are enrolled in a state program that provides free community college tuition.
Following Whitmer’s speech, Republican House Speaker Matt Hall stated that she is figuring out “what is the right message to try to bring men back to the Democratic Party.”
“The rhetoric is great, but the record has to match that,” Hall told reporters.
Whitmer promised to sign an executive order to increase young men’s participation in education and skill-building programs.
Whitmer, one of 12 female state governors and arguably the most well-known, has built a national profile through her advocacy for women’s rights. She helped pass a ballot measure in 2022 that codified reproductive rights in the state, and she was one of the country’s leading abortion rights advocates in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.
“And to the women out there who are succeeding after decades of having the deck stacked against them, I see your resilience and I will never abandon my commitment to equal opportunity and dignity for everyone,” she said.
The address was the second-term governor’s second-to-last State of the State speech due to term limits. The speech is an annual opportunity for the governor to promote policy.
Whitmer will face a divided Legislature in her final two years as governor, after Republicans took control of the state House of Representatives. She has consistently stated that she wants to work with Trump and Republicans in Michigan, and last week she signed a bipartisan package to change the state’s minimum wage requirements.
Whitmer used a similar tone Wednesday.
“My north star has always been collaboration,” she told me.
However, not all Democrats in the state have agreed with this approach.
“I am concerned about normalizing what we see in the presidency right now,” Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel said to the Associated Press, criticizing the tone Whitmer has taken with the President.
Nessel is one of a number of Democratic Attorneys General who have been hitting the Trump administration and Elon’s Musk’s DOGE with lawsuits, alleging unconstitutional action on a number of fronts. She called it a “fool’s errand” to negotiate with the president.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, praised the governor’s collaborative message but wants Whitmer and other governors to address certain Trump moves.
“There are also a lot of people who are feeling anxious and afraid because of who they love, what they look like or where they’re from,” she told me. “So we have to talk about the strength of Michigan being born out of keeping everyone safe and everyone protected.”
Whitmer advocated for legislation that would limit cellphone use in schools and tax vape products during her speech on Wednesday. Republicans have expressed support for legislation limiting cellphone usage in schools, while opposing Whitmer’s proposal to tax vapes.
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