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Gretchen Esther Whitmer (born August 23, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 49th governor of Michigan since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 2001 to 2006 and in the Michigan Senate from 2006 to 2015. Whitmer was born and raised in Michigan. She graduated from Forest Hills Central High School, Michigan State University, and the Detroit College of Law. Her political career began in 2000 when she was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives. In 2006, she won a special election to the state senate, serving in that chamber until 2015. She was the Senate's first female Democratic leader from 2011 to 2015. In 2013, Whitmer gained national attention for a floor speech during a debate on abortion in which she shared her experience of being sexually assaulted. For six months in 2016, she was the prosecutor for Ingham County. Whitmer was elected governor in 2018, defeating Republican nominee Bill Schuette, the state attorney general. As governor, Whitmer has focused on healthcare and infrastructure legislation. In February 2020, she was selected to give the Democratic response to then President Donald Trump's 2020 State of the Union Address. In October 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation thwarted a far-right militia group's kidnapping plot against Whitmer. Since January 2021, Whitmer has served as one of the vice chairs of the Democratic National Committee. She was reelected as governor in 2022, defeating Republican nominee Tudor Dixon. Early life and education Gretchen Esther Whitmer was born on 23 August 1971 in Lansing, Michigan, the eldest of three children of Sharon H. "Sherry" Reisig (née Hanna) and Richard Whitmer, who were both attorneys. Her father was head of the Michigan department of commerce under Governor William Milliken, a Republican, and the president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan from 1988 to 2006. Her mother worked as an assistant attorney general under Michigan Attorney General, Frank J. Kelley. A conspiracy theory has claimed that Whitmer is George Soros's niece, but the two are not related. Whitmer's parents divorced when she was ten years old, after which she and her siblings moved with their mother to Grand Rapids; her father traveled from his home in Detroit to visit the family at least once a week. From 1985 to 1989, she attended Forest Hills Central High School near Grand Rapids, participating in the school's softball and track and field teams. After graduating from Forest Hills, Whitmer enrolled at Michigan State University to study communications, with the intent of becoming a broadcaster for ESPN. She graduated in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts. While an undergraduate, Whitmer interned State Representative Curtis Hertel, which convinced her to study law. She attended Michigan State's College of Law, where she was a member of the Michigan State Law Review. She graduated in 1998 with a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude. She then entered private practice in the Lansing office of the Detroit law firm Dickinson Wright. In 1999, Whitmer was elected chair of the East Lansing Transportation Commission. Michigan Legislature House of Representatives In 2000, Whitmer ran for the Michigan House of Representatives' 70th district to succeed representative Laura Baird. After winning the Democratic primary against Mary Lindemann, John Schlinker, and Bob McCann, she ran against Republican nominee Bill Hollister. She campaigned on education and healthcare reform and environmental protections. Whitmer won the election, receiving 17,409 total votes. She was reelected to the 69th House district in 2002 and 2004 and served as vice chair of the Michigan House Appropriations Committee. In 2003, Whitmer introduced a bill in the Michigan House that would raise taxes on alcohol and improve fire protection in the state, a proposition that earned the attention and support of then-governor Jennifer Granholm. In 2005, Whitmer was voted Most Effective Democrat of the Michigan House. Senate In March 2006, Whitmer won a special election to the Michigan State Senate, replacing Virg Bernero, who had been elected mayor of Lansing in November 2005. She was elected to a full term in November, and reelected in 2010. In 2011, Whitmer's Democratic colleagues unanimously chose her to be the Senate Democratic Leader, making her the first woman to lead a party caucus in the Senate. Due to term limits, Whitmer was unable to run for reelection in 2014 and left office in 2015. In 2013, Whitmer received national recognition when she revealed that she had been the victim of rape during her freshman year at Michigan State University. She told her story during a debate about abortion rights, while making the case that victims of rape should be allowed to terminate pregnancies that result from the assault. Ingham County prosecutor On May 11, 2016, it was announced that the judges of Michigan's 30th Judicial Circuit Court had unanimously selected Whitmer to serve the remaining six months of outgoing Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III's term. Dunnings resigned, effective July 2, 2016, after being charged with misconduct in office and with prostitution-related offenses; he subsequently pleaded guilty to several counts and was sentenced to one year in jail and two years' probation. On June 21, 2016, Whitmer was administered the oath of office as prosecutor by Ingham County Circuit Court Chief Judge Janelle Lawless. She said her top priorities during her six months of service would be to determine if any other officials in the prosecutor's office knew about Dunnings's alleged crimes and to change how the office handled domestic violence and sexual assault cases. In July 2016, Whitmer issued an 11-page report on whether Dunnings's offenses had affected cases the office handled. The report concluded that employees "were never asked to compromise a case or look the other way" and that she had "full confidence that any problem that had existed in this office left with Mr. Dunnings". Whitmer's term expired on December 31, 2016. Governorship Elections 2018 On January 3, 2017, Whitmer announced she would run in the 2018 Michigan gubernatorial race. In the August 2018 primary, Whitmer became the Democratic nominee, winning 52% of the vote and defeating Abdul El-Sayed, who took 30%, and Shri Thanedar, who took 17%. While campaigning in 2018, Whitmer said that, if elected, she would focus on improving Michigan's "fundamentals"; she named schools, roads, and water systems as priorities. Whitmer's main opponent was Republican Bill Schuette, the term-limited attorney general of Michigan. The two candidates debated twice. Whitmer defeated Schuette in the November 6 election by nearly a 10-point margin. 2022 Whitmer was reelected to a second term in 2022, defeating Republican nominee Tudor Dixon. She won by nearly 11 points, a larger margin than many analysts and election watchers.... Discover the Sarah Spelbring popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Sarah Spelbring books.