Who is Gretchen Whitmer and could she run for president?

With Joe Biden and Kamala Harris now off the scene the party is looking for a new face to take on the Republicans at the next national vote.

And they may have one contender in Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Despite selling 2028 caps, Donald Trump will not stand for a third term unless he changes the US constitution - meaning there is also a power struggle for the Republican ticket.

The already fractious political divide in the US hit a fever pitch this week when the president threatened to deport the New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, after his election win.

It would take an ambitious, or maybe brave, politician to try and make a campaign for the top job in this climate but Ms Whitmer has not ruled herself out.

Here is her story from the kidnapping plot to ringbindergate.

Who is Gretchen Whitmer?

“Governor Gretchen Whitmer is a lifelong Michigander focused on getting things done that will make a real difference in people’s lives,” states her official website.

The 54-year-old, who has two daughters with her first husband Gary Shrewsbury, has been heavily involved with politics in her state since the mid 2000s.

Affectionately nicknamed Big Gretch, for her work during the pandemic, as well as dubbed ‘The Woman in Michigan’ by nemesis Donald Trump, she has become a household name in the US.

She made history in 2011 by becoming the first female Senate Democratic Leader and two years later won plaudits for speaking up about her experience of being a rape victim.

Ms Whitmer married her second and current husband Marc Mallor, a Republican-voting dentist, in 2011 - and has lived with him and his three sons, from a previous marriage, in her home city of Lansing, Michigan.

Unable to continue as a senator due to term limits, she became Ingham County prosecutor in the mid 2010s, often a key step forward in US politics.

As governor, she was chosen to give the Democratic response to Mr Trump’s 2020 state of the union address and, during the Biden administration, was one of the vice chairpersons of the Democratic National Committee.

Unlike other Democratic governors, she has been willing to enter the White House and negotiate policies with Mr Trump - something she argues counts in her favour, but may be used against her in primary votes.

Could Gretchen Whitmer run for president?

Ms Whitmer has been governor of her home state since 2019 and was re-elected in 2023, meaning that by the end of 2027 she will be out of this job and unable to run again…

This means she will have a year before the 2028 vote if she is to campaign full time for a presidential run.

“I can’t rule anything out at this juncture,” she said of her future candidacy.

“You’ve got a great bench of talented people in this country right now. And I am honored to even be considered among them.”

Ms Whitmer has declined to formalise her intentions until the 2026 midterm elections in the US.

Who are the other Democrats in the frame to run for president?

Like Ms Whitmer, none of the candidates have announced their intentions - and will be unlikely to do so either until next year’s mid-terms. However, those tipped to run include:

• Gavin Newsom: Governor of California,
• JB Pritzker: Governor of Illinois,
• Andy Beshear: Governor of Kentucky,
• Josh Shapiro: Governor of Pennsylvania

What was the plot to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer?

In October 2020, 14 men were charged with offences related to kidnapping Ms Whitmer and taking steps to overthrow the state government.

After the course of many court hearings, the co-leaders of the plot were convicted of conspiracy charges and sentenced to 16 and 19 years in prison respectively.

In total, nine were either convicted or confessed and were all sentenced.

Ms Whitmer said of the ordeal: “[I] “knew this job would be hard, but I’ll be honest, I never could’ve imagined anything like this.”

She also decried Mr Trump for refusing to call out extreme groups on the right.

She said: “‘Stand back and stand by,’ he told them. ‘Stand back and stand by.’ Hate groups heard the President’s words not as a rebuke, but as a rallying cry, as a call to action. When our leaders speak, their words matter. They carry weight.”

And why did Whitmer shield her face with a ringbinder on a visit to the White House?

It was hailed in some quarters as the most embarrassing political photo since Ed Miliband’s bacon sandwich gaffe.

Ms Whitmer took the approach of the “Coldplay Couple” in avoiding the camera in April, trying to get out of the way when surely just being photographed would have caused less damage.

The governor held ringbinders to her face when she was snapped in the Oval Office, shortly after Mr Trump signed executive orders.

She had been in the presidential suite alongside other governors as an ice storm in Michigan, the state’s defence and spending went up for discussion.

“I disagree with a lot of stuff that was said and the actions that were taken,” she said afterwards.

“But I stayed in the room because I needed to make the case for Michigan, and that’s my job.”

She said that she stood glumly as Mr Trump put pen to paper, but her action - or perhaps lack of it - was criticised on Twitter.

Her office later clarified: “Her presence is not an endorsement of the actions taken or statements made at that event.”