Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has long been one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal enemies in the Democratic Party.
But after Trump won the blue state during the 2024 presidential election, Whitmer is now suddenly eager to help Trump and his team.
In a stunning about-face, Whitmer said she is “looking to collaborate” with Trump after embracing policies to those of the new administration.
“We do have a problem at our southern border,” she said in an interview with CBS Mornings on Monday.
“I’ve sent my national guard down to help with surveillance under both a Biden administration and a Trump administration.”
Michigan @GovWhitmer says she wants to find common ground and is “looking to collaborate” with the Trump administration, after her state voted for President Trump in the 2024 election.
Whitmer tells CBS Mornings about listening to her constituents and the young adult edition of… pic.twitter.com/Nx5caW0jVX
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) January 27, 2025
This is not the first time Whitmer has showed willingness to work with the Trump administration.
“Michiganders elected both me and Donald Trump twice just two years apart. Every one of us swore an oath to the people we serve, and the people expect us to find common ground,” the governor said at a Detroit Auto Show on Jan. 15.
“Now I don’t want to pretend we’re always going to agree, but I will always seek collaboration first.”
Trump won Michigan last November, reclaiming the battleground state and its 15 electoral votes for the Republicans after Joe Biden flipped it in 2020.
Trump won also Michigan in 2016 by just over 10,000 votes, marking the first time a Republican presidential candidate had secured the state in nearly three decades.
Other Democrats, including Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, have also showed a willingness to work with Trump.
Fetterman joined his Republican peers in the Senate in passing the Laken Riley Act, which Trump is expected to sign today.
He has also said he is open to consensually buying Greenland. “I do think it’s a responsible conversation,” Fetterman said in a discussion with Fox News.
Murphy wrote a letter to the president on Jan. 20 expressing his desire to address “New York’s congestion pricing scheme.”
“I welcome any opportunity to work with you and your administration where we can find common ground. One area where I believe our priorities align is congestion pricing,” he said in his letter.
In regards to Whitmer, her comments about working directly with Trump come as a shock to many Democrats.
She called for the abolishment of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when running for governor in 2018, which was caught on video.
She said the agency is “doing a fundamentally cruel and unconstitutional, undemocratic work.”
“So, you think we should abolish it [ICE]?” she was asked in the video.
“Yeah, I think our governor needs to stand up,” she replied.
Whitmer was also a vocal critic of Trump throughout his first term in office.
She called Trump’s suggestion of sending federal law enforcement officers into cities to squash rioting during the George Floyd demonstrations in 2020 “deeply disturbing.”
Whitmer also slammed his concerns over universal mail-in ballots and his criticism of the U.S. Postal Service.
She also said his decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords “wrong” in Nov. 2019 and accused him of playing “partisan games” when he went after Michigan for forcing nursing homes to re-admit elderly Covid-19-positive patients.
Whitmer’s exact role in working with Trump continues to unfold.
Reports also indicate that Whitmer is a potential Democratic presidential nominee in 2028.