In 2020, Whitmer described herself as a
progressive Democrat who could work with legislators with different political perspectives. Others have called Whitmer a
center-left politician.
Abortion , and Representative
Hillary Scholten at a roundtable discussion in
Grand Rapids, Michigan, on the topic of reproductive rights for women, February 2024 During the COVID-19 pandemic,
anti-abortion groups criticized Whitmer for allowing
abortion procedures to continue in Michigan. In September 2021, Whitmer began working with the state legislature to repeal a 90-year-old law that banned abortion in Michigan, so as to preserve abortion rights in the state in case
Roe v. Wade was overturned. After the Supreme Court
overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, it was unclear whether Michigan's 1931 statute criminalizing abortion procedures and drugs was operative. In April 2023, Whitmer signed a bill repealing the 1931 ban, ensuring abortion access in Michigan. Whitmer strongly supports the proposed industrial "megasite" in
Marshall, Michigan, where a major
electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility is planned, and approved of $1.8 billion in state incentives for the purchase and preparation of the site.
Cannabis legalization In 2018, as a candidate for governor, Whitmer spoke at
Hash Bash to endorse
Proposal 1 to legalize recreational
cannabis in Michigan. She said she had supported legalizing cannabis "before it was politically fashionable" and pledged to legalize and regulate it to increase revenue for road repairs and prevent children from accessing it. In 2019, as governor, she reappeared at Hash Bash via video message to celebrate the legalization of recreational cannabis in Michigan, saying, "We worked hard, we got it done."
Education Whitmer has said she would like to phase in full-day universal
pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds in Michigan. She eliminated Michigan's third-grade "read-or-flunk" policy, which she says penalizes students the education system has failed; she wants to work to improve their reading skills. She proposes that all high school students be offered two years of debt-free higher education, either college or post-secondary training for skilled trades. Whitmer established the Michigan Reconnect program passed with bipartisan support in 2019 after first proposing the program in her State of the State speech as part of her "60 by 30" goal to address workforce talent shortages: having 60% of working-age adults in Michigan with a skill certificate or college degree by 2030. The program allows any Michigander 25 or older without a college degree to enroll tuition-free in an associate degree or professional skills certificate program. In her 2023 State of the State Address, Whitmer called for expanding the program by lowering the minimum age to 21. As of 2023, over 113,000 people had been accepted into the program, and boosted college-enrollment amongst adults over 25 years of age by an estimated 38% by 2025, particularly boosting women and younger adults, which was largely driven by part-time enrollment. In 2020, Whitmer launched the Futures for Frontliners program, providing tuition-free access to an associate degree or professional certification program for Michiganders who served as essential workers during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. By 2021, more than 120,000 people had applied for the first-of-its-kind program. Whitmer signed bipartisan legislation in 2022 establishing the Michigan Achievement Scholarship and providing $560 million to fund it. The "sweeping college scholarship program" is the state's largest effort to date to expand affordable access to college education, estimated to provide scholarships for 94% of students at community college, 76% of students at public universities, and 79% of students at private universities and colleges. Whitmer's FY24 state budget included funding for a
universal school breakfast and lunch program for all students enrolled at participating schools from pre-K through Grade 12. By 2026, over 1.4 million students were enrolled in the program, and families were saved an estimated average of $1,000 per year on meal costs.
Environment Whitmer has ordered the closure of major oil pipelines in Michigan and supports
renewable energy initiatives. She has been endorsed by the
Sierra Club's Michigan Chapter. In February 2019, Whitmer issued an executive order that reorganized some state government departments; the
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality became the
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.
Guns In January 2021, Whitmer called for a ban on all weapons inside the Michigan State Capitol in response to armed protestors in April 2020. In her seven "concrete steps" to deter school shooting, she has called for bans on
bump stocks and increasing resources for school resource officers. In 2019, Whitmer joined 11 other governors in calling for "common sense gun legislation". In 2012, she wrote an
open letter to
National Rifle Association President
Wayne LaPierre on
HuffPost about actions to prevent further school violence like the
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. After Democrats won a majority in the state legislature in 2023, they passed a package of gun violence prevention legislation. Whitmer strongly supported the six bills, which were passed in the aftermath of the 2021
Oxford High School shooting and
2023 Michigan State University shooting, and she signed the package into law in April 2023. The Michigan package included a
universal background checks law, a
safe storage law, a law exempting of firearm safety devices from state sales tax and use tax, and a law containing new licensure requirements for gun owners.
Health care Whitmer has said she would fight Republican efforts to take away protections for patients with preexisting conditions. In the State Senate, she successfully worked to
expand Medicaid coverage in the state under the
Affordable Care Act. She spoke against single-payer healthcare as unrealistic on a state level in 2018 but also said she supports and thinks there is a good opportunity to enact federal-level
Medicare for All. She also said she would work to lower the cost of prescription drugs and would get rid of Schuette's drug immunity law, which she believes protects drug companies from legal trouble if their drugs harm or kill people. During her first term as governor, Whitmer expanded health care coverage to more than one million Michiganders under the state's Medicaid expansion program, Healthy Michigan. She played a key role in passing Michigan's Medicaid expansion in 2013 as Senate minority leader, delivering Democratic votes needed to pass it. Also during her first term, Whitmer established the Healthy Moms Healthy Babies program to help reduce infant mortality rates in low-income populations and address racial disparities in care provided for mothers and infants, and secured an expansion of postpartum Medicaid coverage providing up to 35,000 mothers with health services for a year postpartum to help reduce pregnancy-related deaths. Whitmer signed a bipartisan bill into law in 2020 to end
surprise medical billing in Michigan by requiring providers to negotiate bills for out-of-network emergency services with a patient's insurance company instead of the patient. In 2022, she signed a bipartisan package of bills into law to reduce
prescription drug prices by requiring pharmacists to disclose prices of cheaper
generic drugs to patients and by requiring
pharmacy benefit managers to be licensed and file drug-price transparency reports. Whitmer announced a state partnership with the non-profit Undue Medical Debt to facilitate the erasure of over $144 million in
medical debt held by nearly 210,000 Michigan residents in July 2025, funded by $4.5 million in appropriations allocated by the FY24 state budget. In her eighth and final
State of the State address outlined her plan to cap interest rates on medical debt and prevent it from appearing in Michiganders' credit reports, mirroring a legislative package that prohibits hospitals and debt collectors from recouping unpaid medical debt through
wage garnishment or property
foreclosure and caps interest accrual and late fees on medical debt to 3% of the total debt, which were each approved by the
Michigan Senate in March 2026 and awaits approval in the
Michigan House of Representatives as of April 2026.
Israel After the
November 2024 election, Whitmer and U.S. Senator
Kirsten Gillibrand gave
pro-Israel speeches at a pro-Israel rally to the Jewish Federations of North America's General Assembly and expressed solidarity with the
Israeli people.
Immigration In 2021, Whitmer declared that Michigan was ready to accept
Afghan refugee families fleeing the country amid the
Taliban takeover following the
U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. She praised Michigan's "rich history of
multiculturalism" and said the state was prepared "to help ensure those who arrive in Michigan can get their feet on the ground". In 2019, Whitmer canceled the sale of a former state prison over the purchasing company's plans to operate the facility as an immigrant detention center. A spokesperson said she canceled the sale because the purchasing company could not guarantee that the facility would not be used to house members of families separated under the
Trump administration family separation policy. Whitmer disapproved of Trump's plan to exclude
illegal immigrants from the
2020 United States census. In 2019, she told immigration rights groups that she supported plans to give undocumented immigrants driver's licenses or a form of government ID.
Infrastructure After running on the slogan "fix the damn roads" during her campaign, Whitmer secured historic funding for Michigan roads and bridges as governor. During her first term, over 16,000 lane miles of roads and 1,200 bridges were repaired across the state. In 2020, Whitmer announced the Rebuilding Michigan program, providing $3.5 billion in state funding for over 120 road projects for the next five years, with a focus on major roads with the greatest economic impact and traffic volume. In 2022, Whitmer signed a bipartisan $5 billion infrastructure deal that included over $400 million for state and local roads and bridges, and an executive order to streamline road repairs directing agencies to speed up permitting for infrastructure projects. Also in 2022, she announced the creation of the Michigan Infrastructure Office to coordinate between agencies and spend infrastructure funding more effectively. The Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council's 2022 report found that Michigan's roads were "in their best shape in years", with the proportion of roads rated "good" and "fair" increasing while those in "poor" condition decreased. The council's 2023 report found that "slightly fewer roads were in good condition and slightly more were deemed poor" but said it was a good sign that roads had not deteriorated substantially from the gains in the previous year. Whitmer has invested over $2 billion in water infrastructure improvements since taking office. She secured $1.7 billion in water infrastructure investments as part of a nearly $5 billion bipartisan infrastructure deal signed into law in 2022. Whitmer created the office of the Clean Water Public Advocate in 2019 and has enforced Michigan's recently updated lead and copper drinking water rule, which has the nation's strictest standards for drinking water contamination.
Labor Whitmer supports
labor unions. In March 2023, she signed the repeal of the state's 2012 "
right-to-work law"; Michigan was the first state in 58 years to repeal such a law. Whitmer also signed legislation reinstating a
prevailing wage law, which mandates that contractors hired for projects with the state pay union-level wages. In February 21, 2025, Whitmer signed a bill increasing the state's
minimum wage to $15 per hour by January 1, 2027, and thereafter indexing it to year-over-year increases in CPI inflation, increasing the earnings of over 200,000 Michigan employees. She also signed the Earned Sick Time Act into law on the same day, requiring businesses that employ over ten workers to provide at least one hour of
paid sick leave for every thirty hours worked, up to three days of total sick time off. Smaller employers are required to provide at least forty paid hours, plus an additional thirty-two unpaid hours of sick time off.
LGBTQ rights Whitmer has been a longtime advocate for expanding Michigan's civil rights law to include
LGBTQ individuals. The
Human Rights Campaign endorsed her during her 2018 and 2022 campaigns for governor. In March 2023, Whitmer signed legislation to expand the
Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include protections against
discrimination in employment and
housing, based
on sexual orientation and
gender identity. Several Republican lawmakers joined with Democrats in the Michigan House and Senate to pass the bill.
Tax and fiscal policy As governor, Whitmer has signed several major tax cuts into law. In 2021, she signed bipartisan legislation to exempt all feminine hygiene products from state sales tax, saving consumers an estimated $7 million in taxes. Whitmer signed two bipartisan tax cuts for small businesses into law in 2021; legislation she signed in October 2021 expanded property tax exemptions, providing $75 million in savings for small businesses and bipartisan legislation she signed in December 2021 creating a
SALT tax cap workaround for small businesses that providing a total of $200 million in tax savings. In 2023, she signed a bipartisan $1 billion package of tax cuts into law. The legislation repealed the retirement tax, quintupled the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit, and allocated up to $500 million per year of corporate taxes towards the state's fund for business incentives. In 2022, Michigan had the fifth-lowest state and local tax burden in the nation and the lowest in the Midwest, according to the nonpartisan
Tax Foundation. Whitmer grew Michigan's rainy-day fund to an all-time high of $1.6 billion in 2022 thanks to a $500 million deposit made in 2021 and an additional $180 million deposit in 2022 as part of bipartisan spending agreements. Under Whitmer, Michigan paid down nearly $14 billion in state debt and went from a projected $3 billion deficit to a $9 billion surplus. Michigan became a "standout for investors" under Whitmer with bond returns outperforming neighboring states. In 2021,
S&P and
Fitch both announced rating outlook upgrades for Michigan, citing the state's responsible fiscal management and economic success emerging from the pandemic. In 2022, Fitch upgraded Michigan's credit rating from AA to AA+, citing the state's strong fiscal position and economic growth.
Voting rights and election security In 2020, Whitmer signed an executive order expanding access to
mail-in voting. In November 2023, she signed a series of election-related bills. The package of legislation expands automatic citizen
voter registration and makes it a criminal offense to intimidate or threaten a poll worker. ==Personal life==