Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday said she will not run for president in the 2028 election.
“There will be a robust group of people running for president,” Whitmer said.
“I will not be one of them in 2028,” she added.
Watch below:
“I will not be one of them in 2028…”
Governor Whitmer on possible presidential run in our one on one from Mackinac. pic.twitter.com/6vjZrJvI0R— Roop Raj (@rooprajfox2) May 28, 2026
Whitmer’s term as governor will end on January 1, 2027.
She is term-limited and cannot seek re-election.
FOX 2 Detroit has more:
She said she plans to take some time before jumping to her next endeavor after leaving office.
“I want to have impact. I want to do good work, but I’m also looking forward to taking a little bit of a break and thinking about it, not jumping right into something,” Whitmer said.
She said she knows there is time until 2028 if she wants to take aim at the nation’s top office, but does not plan to do so.
This isn’t the first time Whitmer has been floated as a possible candidate for president, but she also chose not to run in 2024. She first said that she was not seeking to be on the ballot years before the election, and reaffirmed that choice when former president Joe Biden dropped out of the election in the summer of 2024.
Whitmer was also considered in 2020 to be Biden’s running mate before he ultimately selected Kamala Harris.
Other names floated as potential 2028 Democratic presidential nominees include California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she won’t seek the presidency in 2028, taking one of the Democratic Party’s high-profile stars out of the running. https://t.co/4DUuFPtOPU
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 28, 2026
NBC News noted:
Moore, like Whitmer, has also denied that he wants to run for president in two years.
The Maryland governor told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” last year, “I’m not running for president.”
ADVERTISEMENTBut even broad declarations against presidential campaigns don’t preclude political observers from including politicians on lists of potential 2028 candidates.
In 2006, then-Sen. Barack Obama told “Meet the Press,” “I won’t run” for president; he went on to win the Democratic nomination and the presidency just two years later.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., also said, “I have no intention” to run for president on “Meet the Press” in 2018, and she later launched a campaign for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president.
Also in her remarks to Fox 2 Detroit on Thursday, Whitmer said that she was leaning on the advice of other former officials about how to transition from elected or appointed office to personal life.
