Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer has expressed a differing view from former First Lady Michelle Obama, stating that she believed America was prepared for a woman president.
Whitmer stated this during an interview with NPR on Tuesday while pushing back on recent comments by Mrs Obama, who said US voters were not ready to elect a woman to the White House.
She said she has “love” for the former First Lady and “the last thing I want to do is disagree with her,” but noted that she sees the issue from a different standpoint.
“I think America is ready for a woman president,” Whitmer said. “The question comes down to a choice between two people, and what we saw in this last election, while Kamala Harris didn’t beat President Trump, we saw women get elected across the country.”
“We saw women win up and down the ballot in hard, important states to win, so I do think there’s an appetite,” she added. “I just, for whatever reason, we have not had a woman president yet. I think we will at some point in the near future.”
The governor referenced the election wins last year by Democratic Governors Abigail Spanberger in Virginia, Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, and Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan in 2024.
Obama had in November said Americans were “not ready” to elect a woman to the White House, pointing to former Vice President Kamala Harris’ election loss to President Donald Trump in the last presidential election.
“As we saw in this past election, sadly, we ain’t ready,” the former first lady said at the Brooklyn Academy of Music at the time while promoting her book, “The Look.”
“That’s why I’m like, don’t even look at me about running, because you all are lying. You’re not ready for a woman. You are not … We’ve got a lot of growing up to do, and there’s still, sadly, a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman, and we saw it,” she added.
Responding to whether Harris lost to Trump in the presidential election because she is a woman, Whitmer said: “I don’t think it was just gender, no.”
