MICHIGAN GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER delivers a keynote address Thursday during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

MACKINAC ISLAND –Delivering her seventh address to attendees of the annual Mackinac Policy Conference, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recounted hard-fought victories and future challenges, assuring Michiganders that they can do hard things.

First on her list of hard things she’d accomplished in office, Whitmer pointed to her efforts to secure a new fighter mission at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, which culminated in President Donald Trump announcing 21 new F-15EX fighter aircraft to base there alongside previously promised KC-46A refueling tankers that had been previously announced.

“Oh we didn’t put a picture of me and my new bestie up there did we?” Whitmer joked, as she switched to a slide of photos of her at Selfridge, absent Trump.

She also pointed to her work to expand Michigan’s Medicaid program during her time as minority leader of the then GOP-led State Senate, with Republicans also controlling the House and the governor’s seat.

“I knew we had to seize the chance to expand health care to hundreds of thousands more Michiganders. And you know what? Governor (Rick) Snyder supported it, too, and our only chance of getting it done was working together,” Whitmer said.

The governor also touted her administration’s goal of 60% of Michigan adults to hold a degree or certificate by 2030, supported by programs to provide Michiganders access to college and trade certificate programs for free, or at a reduced rate.

Michigan lawmakers were also able to reach a deal to preserve Michigan’s tipped minimum wage and trim back new sick time requirements, Whitmer noted, as business groups raised concerns that court-ordered changes would cause mass restaurant closures and widespread layoffs.

“We can do hard things. To succeed you gotta be willing to work with people you disagree with about most things,” Whitmer said.

“It’s the harder path in the moment, but it’s always the right path. Success requires thinking about ways to help the whole team instead of just having your own staff,” Whitmer said.

However there are still hard things to do, Whitmer said, pointing to the state’s literacy crisis with just a quarter of Fourth graders able to read proficiently.

While this crisis is affecting all Michigan children, Whitmer noted that boys were falling behind, with girls reading at a higher level.

“The next hard thing we must do is make sure that every kid in Michigan can read. We must focus every education policy to meet this high-level goal until we hit it. As the State Board of Education hires their new superintendent, I urge them to pick a candidate with a proven record on literacy,” Whitmer said.

The state has already built momentum on this goal, Whitmer noted, as she’d signed legislation last year to move schools back to the science of reading strategies, and require schools to screen for dyslexia.

The state also needs a long-term sustainable plan for road funding, Whitmer said. In 2019, she failed to secure a long-term funding solution for road repairs as her proposal to raise the gas tax didn’t play with the GOP-Controlled Legislature. In its place, Whitmer received approval for a $3.5 billion road bonding plan.

However as bond funding dries up, the state will need to compromise on a plan with both cuts and new streams of revenue to support repairs and infrastructure, Whitmer said.

The governor also set a goal to secure a semiconductor chip manufacturing plant and begin construction by the end of next year, telling conference attendees that she’s been directly advocating to the Trump Administration on this front

“This is an intergenerational investment that makes an entire region an economic magnet, inspiring families to move here and put down roots. For a long time, the United States made 0% of the world’s advanced chips. We heeded too much ground to foreign competition, and now, thanks to plants being built nationwide, we’re growing fast. Michigan should get in on the game,” Whitmer said.

“It won’t be easy, but it’s okay, because we can do hard things,” Whitmer said.

Looking to the future, the only thing that’s certain is uncertainty Whitmer noted, assuring conference attendees that she’s been tracking every twist on tariff policies and efforts to strip billions from Medicaid and SNAP benefits.

“These are serious issues with huge stakes for Michigan, from workers in the auto supply chain to parents figuring out next month’s budget. We can do hard things in Michigan, but we’re also living through hard times. We have to acknowledge what’s within our control and what’s not,” Whitmer said.

However, Whitmer looked to Detroit’s population growth for the second year in a row as a source of inspiration.

“I remember sitting in that audience and watching (former Gov.) Bill Milliken give a speech from this podium, talking about as Detroit grows, so goes the state of Michigan. This was during some of those hardest times, and here we are now. We should all feel pride of our flagship city, a place that has risen from a past defined by hardship to a future driven by endless possibilities,” Whitmer said.

“Detroit does hard things as a state. We’ve done a lot over the last couple of years, but we’re not done yet. Let’s continue leading by example as a state that does hard things in the right way. And let’s remember that we’re all on the same team, team Michigan,” Whitmer said.

Whitmer speaks out on pardons for kidnap plotters

After her speech, Whitmer sat down with Blue Cross Blue Shield President and CEO Tricia Keith, who asked Whitmer about Trump’s recent comments that he would “take a look at” pardons for two men convicted in a plot to kidnap and kill her in 2020.

Whitmer pointed to a sketch from Key and Peele depicting former President Barack Obama’s anger translator.

“I did all the interviews, they said, ‘How do you feel about this?’ I said, ‘Well I’m disappointed but my anger translator would use more colorful language'” Whitmer said.

“No one should hesitate to condemn political violence, whether it is aimed at my good friend Josh Shapiro, the horror that played out at their residence in Pennsylvania, or it is the man who shot Donald Trump, or it is people that threatened me, it’s unacceptable. And so it is my hope that he doesn’t go forward with that,” Whitmer said.

However, Whitmer later told Michigan Public that when she spoke to Trump about a month ago, she said pardoning Fox and Croft would be the “wrong decision,” to which he responded that he would “drop it.”

“I’m going to make my thoughts on this known to the White House again. And I hope that it’s not an action that they take,” Whitmer told the outlet.

———

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit. For more, go to https://michiganadvance.com.