MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told reporters Thursday that she has “nothing to announce” about a possible 2028 presidential bid, stepping back from remarks she had made hours earlier that she would not seek the White House after leaving office.
During an onstage interview following her annual address at the Mackinac Policy Conference, Whitmer was asked about the earlier statement and replied, “At this juncture, I’ve got nothing to announce.” Pressed further later in the day, she added, “You know, I never thought I would run for governor, so I guess I should know better than to say any of it. Never say never.”
Whitmer, a two-term Democrat, is barred by term limits from seeking reelection and will leave the governorship at the end of 2026. Her decisive victories in Michigan — a state carried by Republican Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2024 — have kept her among the national Democrats whose names circulate in early discussions of the party’s 2028 field.