As thousands gathered at the Michigan Capitol in 2018 wearing pink hats and wielding signs protesting President Donald Trump, two future state leaders — now Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel — shared a megaphone to fire up the crowd. Since riding an anti-Trump wave into office, the two battleground state Democrats have taken different approaches to his return to the White House.
Whitmer has opted for collaboration over resistance following Trump’s most recent victory while some Democratic governors have taken a more combative tone, and the governors have voiced disagreements on Trump’s policies ranging from transgender athletes to tariffs. Nessel, meanwhile, has stood united with other Democratic attorneys general pursuing an aggressive legal strategy with their flurry of lawsuits against the Trump administration. Both Michigan leaders cannot run again for their current jobs due to term limits.
In their final years in office, the pair of Michigan leaders have made big moves navigating a federal policy landscape undergoing dramatic change.
Just before the start of Trump’s second term this year, Whitmer said Michigan voters elected both her and Trump — each time just two years apart — and expect them to work together. “I won’t go looking for fights. I won’t back down from them either, because I’m not here to play games. I’ve got a job to do,” Whitmer said in a Jan. 15 speech delivered before Trump’s inauguration.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer stands, as President Donald Trump (not pictured) signs executive orders and proclamations, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. on April 9, 2025.
Whitmer has since sat next to Trump during a White House dinner with governors and met with the president twice. Nessel has questioned her fellow Democrat’s posture toward Trump as he ushers in a slew of new policies.
“I see how dangerous they are to our republic and to me I feel like I can’t just stand by and normalize his presidency in any way,” Nessel said in a March 18 interview with the Free Press. “And I do believe every time the governor has dinner sitting next to Donald Trump, it sends a powerful message to Michigan residents and the many Americans around the country who like and respect our governor.”
Nessel invoked the Winston Churchill phrase characterizing any attempt to feed a crocodile as a futile strategy to delay one’s inevitable end as the animal’s meal. “And I think that’s what we’re seeing here,” Nessel said.
In a statement, Whitmer Press Secretary Stacey LaRouche said the governor is focused on “kitchen table issues” and will work with anyone on them regardless of party affiliation. “Governor Whitmer will continue to do her job working with federal officials to get stuff done, and pushing back when she disagrees, because Michiganders deserve nothing less,” LaRouche said.
Whitmer’s most recent visit to the White House ended with embarrassing headlines as she briefly hid her face behind file folders during an Oval Office press conference she said she didn’t expect, in which Trump praised her. Whitmer later expressed regret for trying to obscure herself at the Oval Office, saying she didn’t want her picture taken. But she said she didn’t regret going to Washington, D.C. to advocate for Michigan.
Amid a national debate over how Democrats should engage with Trump, Whitmer has described the risk associated with a more antagonistic approach. When Trump blasted Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, during the White House gathering of governors over her opposition to his transgender athletes ban, Mills fired back, telling the president, “We’ll see you in court.” Whitmer told the Associated Press in an interview, “I love Janet Mills and I appreciate her for standing up. I also know that there’s always a cost that comes with that.” The Trump administration in April retaliated against Maine by moving to pull education funding and suing the state.
“Governors have agendas that require support from the president,” said Professor of Political Science at Michigan State University Matt Grossmann. Or at least, not active opposition from the White House, he added.
“It’s not unique for there to be different approaches from the attorney general and the governor,” Grossmann said. “It’s also about what the results are,” he said.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is hugged by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel before she gives her State of the State Address at the Michigan State Capitol building in Lansing on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025.
Whitmer seeks common ground with Trump and his administration
Whitmer has at times gained prominence as a foil to Trump. But as the Democratic governor in a state Trump won, Whitmer must strike a balance, said Liz Boyd, who served as former Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s communications director. “And that’s not an easy job,” she said.
As Michigan’s governor, Whitmer made her way onto the national stage in 2020 when she delivered her party’s response to Trump’s State of the Union speech. Whitmer went on to criticize Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, earning her the moniker that “woman in Michigan” which she reclaimed as a “badge of honor” from the stage of the Democratic National Convention in 2024.
Whitmer has also described Trump as dangerous. After the FBI made arrests in a conspiracy to kidnap Whitmer, the governor said Trump’s rhetoric helped animate the plot against her. “The former president made me a target and threw a lot of gas on the fire and it has continued to burn,” she told CNN in 2023.
When Whitmer campaigned against Trump in 2024 as a surrogate for former Vice President Kamala Harris, the Michigan governor didn’t mince words in describing what she saw as the stakes. A second Trump term would mean “we’ve failed as a country,” Whitmer said during an MSNBC interview in July. “That we’ll see rights eviscerated. We’ll see the institutions that have sustained this democracy undermined. We’ll see abuse of power like we’ve never seen before, especially with the newest Supreme Court ruling,” she said, seeming to refer to the court’s ruling that former presidents can’t be prosecuted for official acts while in office.
Whitmer’s more open approach to Trump in recent months has drawn criticism from some Democrats.
Asked whether Whitmer’s desire to find common ground with the Trump administration is the right approach, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, told the Free Press, “My residents don’t want no common ground when they see a constitutional crisis.” Tlaib made the comments as she marched in a picket line with fired federal workers.
But Jill Christensen, 63, of Edwards Township in Gladwin County, who describes herself as a liberal Democrat, praised Whitmer’s most recent State of the State speech calling for bipartisan unity. “If Trump has done anything for this country, it has shown us that all of us need to compromise on both sides of the aisle, otherwise we have extremism and I am just hoping it’s not too late,” she said in an email. Whitmer’s speech “wasn’t what each side wanted to hear, but what we all needed to hear,” Christensen added.
Republican House Speaker Mall Hall, R-Richland Township, has also commended the governor for meeting with Trump. “Hopefully she’s learning from him,” Hall said at a news conference.
Whitmer has voiced concern about some of the Trump administration’s moves, including tariffs and cuts to the U.S. Department of Education.
But in explaining her general approach to Trump, Whitmer has invoked a familiar bipartisan refrain, drawing on her personal experience growing up with a Republican father and Democratic mother. The values instilled in her in a bipartisan household continue to guide her today, Whitmer said in an April 9 speech in Washington, D.C. “Values of decency, respect and kindness still shape the way that I approach this work, and it helps me make sure I stay focused on what matters so we can get things done,” she said.
So, what does Whitmer want to do? The federal priorities on Whitmer’s wish list include support for a major advanced manufacturing project in Genesee County, protections for the Great Lakes, defense investments at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County, staffing commitments at the Gordie Howe International Bridge in Detroit and federal disaster support after an ice storm hit northern Michigan.
Asked by the Free Press before her second trip to the White House whether the Trump administration would do anything that would make her think twice about a future White House invitation, Whitmer responded, “My job as governor is to try to get Michigan as much help as we can. It means showing up even if I didn’t support the person who’s in the White House.”
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer discusses the U.S. economy, and domestic and foreign policy priorities during a speech in Washington, D.C. on April 9, 2025.
Whitmer made the comments following a small gathering at the CS Mott Children’s Hospital, where Whitmer joined U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, and hospital administrators to discuss the harmful effects of possible cuts to Medicaid that could be included in the federal budget. “We’re going to fight like hell,” Dingell told reporters, borrowing Whitmer’s signature phrase. The governor nodded her head.
Colm O’Comartun, founding partner of the government relations service 50 State and the former executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, said Whitmer may be taking a “wait and see approach” in the early days of Trump’s second term. “She’s a powerful, effective governor who has been re-elected by looking like she puts the needs of voters ahead of anything else,” he said. And if she needs to fight back against Trump, Whitmer proved during his first term that she can defend herself and Michigan against his administration, O’Comartun said. “It showed that she’s not afraid to do it when she thinks it’s the right thing to do,” he said.
Michigan Politics: Trump headed to Macomb County on April 29 to celebrate 100 days in office
Nessel pursues aggressive legal strategy
When Trump took office, Nessel and other Democratic attorneys general moved quickly to challenge his executive order to limit birthright citizenship, filing a lawsuit on his second day back in the White House. Since then, Nessel has teamed up with fellow Democratic attorneys general on nine other lawsuits, including challenges to the Trump administration’s cuts to public health research, Trump aide Elon Musk’s quest to overhaul the federal government, the firing of federal workers and the dismantling of the U.S. Education Department.
Nessel said her initial instinct in the wake of Trump’s election didn’t necessarily include challenging his administration. Her immediate thought, Nessel said, was to give the people what they wanted when they voted for Trump. But she said that she had to proceed thoughtfully. “And at the end of the day, I had to remember my oath of office and I had to remember what I ran on too. Not just what he ran on, but I ran on,” Nessel added.
Nessel also questioned whether the voters who backed Trump wanted everything that’s happened so far during his early days in office. “I don’t think that the voters in the state of Michigan voted to completely circumvent the constitution and that’s what we’re seeing here,” she said.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in December 2024.
Professor of Law David Levine at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco cast the coordination between Democratic attorneys general as a practicality. “They’re just being efficient by doing that. The policies hit them all,” he said. “I think that helps underscore the gravity of the claims by saying that it’s hitting a number of states in similar ways.”
Nessel explained how she decides whether to challenge Trump’s policies in court. She has a two-pronged test: Was a Trump policy carried out legally? Is it inflicting harm on Michigan or the state’s residents? “And if both of those prongs are fulfilled, then I look at filing a lawsuit,” Nessel said. She has traveled across the state to discuss her legal strategy, holding seven town halls so far in March and April.
Nessel in an April 24 statement celebrated the court victories she and other Democratic attorneys general have secured. “I have no regrets stepping up to the plate,” she said. “Over the past 100 days, we’ve proved we won’t back down from the fight.”
In response to Nessel’s lawsuits, courts have halted Trump’s push to limit birthright citizenship, cuts to National Institute of Health grants, federal worker firings and a funding freeze.
Whitmer confronted a different kind of freeze on April 5 when she went to northern Michigan to meet with emergency responders and others assisting with the recovery efforts following a devastating ice storm.
That same day about 200 miles away at a “Hands Off! Day of Action” protest in Lansing, Nessel highlighted her legal fight against the Trump administration. “Trump and his lawless, corrupt and chaotic administration can ignore court orders but they cannot ignore all of us,” she said. “This is our state, our country, our democracy and we will not relinquish it to a wannabe dictator, tyrant king.”
Nessel was back at the Capitol after a second Trump election, shouting into a microphone, this time without Whitmer by her side.
Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Whitmer, Nessel pursue different strategies in Trump’s 2nd term