LANSING (WWJ) - Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has debunked rumors swirling in the national media about whether she may possibly run for president after successfully winning a second term in the state's top political job.
And her answer is no. Not ever.
"I don't foresee that," Whitmer said in an interview Tuesday with the Detroit Free Press from her Lansing office.
"I intend to serve four more years as governor and do the best job I can and hand the state over to whoever succeeds me," the governor said.
The talk of Whitmer possibly running as a Democratic presidential candidate in 2024 -- if Presdient Biden didn't seek out another term -- skyrocketed after her successful win in the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
Whitmer won reelection over rival Tudor Dixon by double digits as the state saw Democrats beating out their Republican rivals all but securing the State Senate while Democrats won the majority of House seats.
As a result, it will be the first time in nearly 40 years that both chambers of the Michigan legislature, as well as the governor's office, will be controlled by Democrats.
Media attention began eyeing the Governor from Michigan shortly after her success from last week, but Whitmer made it clear that she was not eyeing the Oval Office.
"The lure of Washington, D.C. has not been something that has ever drawn my interest or attention," Whitmer said to the Free Press. "What I love about state government is that you can do things right now and see the impact that it has on people's lives."
She regularly came under attack from Twitter users and was the target of an alleged kidnapping plot in 2020 by members of the Wolverine Watchmen, a fringe militia group in Michigan, that viewed Whitmer as a "tyrant".
Whitmer spearheaded efforts to protect reproductive rights against a 1931 Michigan law that banned and criminalized abortions, filing a lawsuit against the 93-year-old ban and advocating for Proposal 3.
Voters passed Proposal in Michigan, effectively enshrining reproductive rights within the state's constitution.
"I have always been drawn to state government work," she said. "It's closer to people. You can see results, and you can get things done."
Whitmer has been named in several publications from The Washington Post to the New York Times as an influential figure within the Democratic party, bolstering her popularity as a potential contender for president.
But Whitmer said its only talk.
"I don't even know what to make of it when people want to have that conversation — the national conversation," she said. "That's not one that I'm driving; I can tell you that."