Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
along with running mate, Lt.
Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, and thier
families celebrate during the
inauguration ball at Cobo Center
in Detroit. (Photo by
Montez Miller/Tell Us Detroit)
Governor
Gretchen
Whitmer
takes a
selfie
with a
few of
her
supporters
during
the
inaugural
ball at
Cobo
Center
in
Detroit
on
Tuesday,
Jan. 1,
2019.
(Photo
by
Montez
Miller/Tell
Us
Detroit)
Whitmer
becomes
Michigan's
49th
Governor,
she
pledges
bipartisanship
By
DAVID
EGGERT
APNews.com
LANSING,
MI -
Gretchen
Whitmer
was
sworn in
as
Michigan’s
49th
governor
Tuesday,
promising
to cast
partisanship
aside to
fix the
roads
and
other
problems
facing
the
state in
an era
of newly
divided
government.
The
47-year-old
former
lawmaker
took the
oath of
office
in a
ceremony
outside
the
Capitol.
“We
might
live in
divisive
times,
but
Michigan’s
problems
are not
partisan,”
she told
a crowd
of
roughly
1,500.
“Potholes
are not
political
— or
better
skills
or great
schools
for our
kids. I
will be
a
governor
for
everyone.
And I am
committed
to
working
across
party
lines to
ensure
that all
Michiganders
have
opportunity.”
While
Democrats
jointly
took
charge
of the
top four
statewide
offices
for the
first
time in
32
years,
Republicans
will
continue
to
control
the
Legislature,
albeit
with
smaller
margins.
Whitmer
renewed
her call
for
“building
bridges”
at a
time
when
“too
many
people
want to
separate
and
divide
us by
building
walls.”
Without
mentioning
President
Donald
Trump or
the
partial
federal
government
shutdown,
she said
Michigan
must not
be
“paralyzed
by
partisanship”
and its
leaders
should
work
together
to
provide
a
national
blueprint
for
rebuilding
infrastructure
and
addressing
America’s
literacy
crisis.
“None of
us can
afford
to
compromise
Michigan’s
economic
future
because
we won’t
compromise
with one
another,”
she said
after
being
sworn in
by state
Supreme
Court
Justice
Elizabeth
Clement,
a fellow
East
Lansing
resident.
It
was a
cold but
celebratory
day for
perhaps
the most
diverse
political
ticket
in state
history.
Whitmer
is the
state’s
second
female
governor,
succeeding
term-limited
Republican
Rick
Snyder.
Garlin
Gilchrist
II is
the
first
black
lieutenant
governor.
Attorney
General
Dana
Nessel,
Michigan’s
first
openly
gay
statewide
officeholder,
is the
first
Democrat
to lead
office
since
Jennifer
Granholm
left 16
years
ago and
became
governor.
And
Jocelyn
Benson
is the
first
Democrat
to be
secretary
of state
in 24
years.
Nessel,
co-counsel
in the
historic
lawsuit
that led
to
same-sex
marriage
in
Michigan,
took the
oath
from
U.S.
District
Judge
Bernard
Friedman,
who
struck
down the
gay
marriage
ban in
2014.
Nessel,
who
recalled
standing
on the
same
Capitol
steps
two
years
ago for
the
Women’s
March on
Lansing,
said it
“worked
out
pretty
well”
now that
women
are
leading
state
offices.
“Sometimes
I will
fail.
But this
I will
promise:
I will
always
try to
do the
best I
possibly
can to
bring
justice
to those
who need
it
most,”
said
Nessel,
49, of
Plymouth.
The
41-year-old
Benson,
of
Detroit,
was
sworn in
by
Senior
Judge
Damon
Keith of
the 6th
U.S.
Circuit
Court of
Appeals,
for whom
she
clerked.
She said
she
began
her
career
in
Alabama
investigating
hate
crimes
and hate
groups
across
the
country,
and was
instilled
with a
responsibility
to
continue
the work
of civil
rights
leaders
who
sacrificed
to
protect
the
right to
vote.
“As
your
secretary
of
state, I
will
work
every
day to
bring
that
same
commitment
as our
state’s
chief
election
officer
to
protect
your
vote,
your
voice
and your
democracy,”
she
said.
Gilchrist,
a
36-year-old
also
from
Detroit,
told the
crowd to
leave
“no cry
for help
unheard,
no call
for
empathy
unanswered
and no
opportunity
for
collaboration
on the
table.”
Supreme
Court
justices,
appellate
judges
and
members
of the
State
Board of
Education
and
three
university
boards
who won
election
in
November
also
were
sworn
in.
After
Whitmer
took the
oath,
the
Michigan
National
Guard
honored
her with
a 19-gun
salute
and a
flyover.
The
inaugural
theme
was
“Building
Bridges
Together,”
a
continuation
of
Whitmer’s
campaign
commitment
to work
in a
bipartisan
way to
address
the
priorities
most
important
to
residents.
Whitmer’s
12-minute
speech
touched
on many
of the
same
“kitchen
table”
issues
she
focused
on
during
the race
against
Republican
Attorney
General
Bill
Schuette:
smoothing
the
roads,
cleaning
up
contaminated
drinking
water,
and
improving
youth
literacy
and
people’s
job
skills.
Snyder
attended
the
ceremony
along
with GOP
and
Democratic
legislative
leaders.
Granholm
and
former
Gov. Jim
Blanchard,
a
Democrat,
also
were
there.
Ex-legislator
Bruce
Patterson,
a
Republican,
served
with
Whitmer
in the
House
and
Senate
and
played a
role in
the
inauguration,
acknowledging
the new
leaders
who will
consider
her
legislative
agenda.
He said
she is
“intelligent,
thoughtful,
determined,
has grit
and is
honest
and
trustworthy.”
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