Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announces book detailing her rapid rise in Democratic politics

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will detail her rapid ascent in Democratic politics in a book out this summer, a move that will undoubtedly spark fresh speculation about her potential presidential ambitions.

“True Gretch” is scheduled for release July 9 and a book announcement provided to The Associated Press promises insights into Whitmer’s five-year tenure as Michigan’s governor. It will include a behind-the-scenes look at how she navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, became the target of a kidnapping plot and continually clashed with former President Donald Trump.

The book also will highlight her role in the 2022 midterm election, when Michigan voters enshrined abortion rights in the state's constitution through a ballot initiative. Democrats that year also won full control of Michigan’s state government for the first time in four decades.

Whitmer, a co-chair in President Joe Biden's reelection campaign, has emerged as one of the Democratic party's top stars and is often named as a potential contender for the party's presidential nomination in 2028.

“In this moment, our world is thirsty for compassion, empathy, big ideas, and the grit to get sh— done,” Whitmer said in the statement announcing her book. "I hope this book will help you find the good and use it to make a difference. I’ll be doing the same alongside you.”

An attorney turned state lawmaker, Whitmer was first elected governor in 2018 after running a campaign centered on a pledge to “fix the damn roads.”

Shortly into her first term, when the pandemic began, she implemented some of the nation’s most restrictive stay-at-home orders, which made her the ongoing target of right-wing vitriol. Thousands of people came to the state Capitol with guns in 2020 as Trump egged them on, tweeting “Liberate Michigan.” Whitmer became known as “that woman from Michigan,” a play on words Trump used to attack her in 2020.

Her bouts with Trump, which have continued with him calling Whitmer “radical” and a “terrible governor” this week during a Michigan visit, helped grow her national profile. She delivered the Democratic response to Trump's State of the Union in 2020 and was considered as a potential vice president pick for Biden later that year.

Whitmer won reelection in 2022 by more than 10%. Her party also flipped the state House and Senate, which has allowed them to roll back decades of Republican policies and rapidly implement a Democratic agenda over the past 15 months.

Whitmer's motto in politics, she writes in the book, is to “get sh— done.”

The book's release unquestionably will fuel speculation Whitmer is angling for a higher office when her term-limited time as Michigan's governor concludes at the end of 2026, although she previously has told the AP that she has “no interest in going to D.C.”

Both Simon & Schuster and the governor's office declined to comment on the financial compensation she received for the book. A spokesperson for Simon & Schuster added “it is our policy not to comment on the financials of a book deal.”

Whitmer in December signed new financial disclosure laws that will require state officials, including the governor, to annually submit reports showing sources of income, properties owned and other assets valued over $1,000 and liabilities valued at more than $10,000. This year, disclosures are due April 15 and will cover the preceding calendar year.

"State government must be open, transparent, and accountable to the people it serves,” Whitmer said in a statement at the time of the signing.

Whitmer will donate the net proceeds from the publishing of her book throughout the entirety of her term as governor to the Capital Region Community Foundation, a nonprofit that leads philanthropic solutions to help improve communities in mid-Michigan, according to the release.