Michigan's 2018 gubernatorial race is one day old and it's already getting ugly as republicans attack Gretchen Whitmer.
As her campaign for governor officially begins, Gretchen Whitmer says it's not too early to get a head start.
“I think it’s really important to get out and learn the struggles of people from every part of this state but also to learn and celebrate the successes and think about how we can replicate that,” said Whitmer.
Whitmer filed paperwork Tuesday which officially began her campaign for governor.
The move comes less than a week after she finished serving as interim prosecutor in Ingham County. A position whitmer says had nothing to do with the launching her campaign.
“I saw that there was a need for someone to step in and try to earn back integrity into an office that I think is extremely important,” said Whitmer. “Frankly I see that same need in state government
to right now and I think that's the only parallel that's there.”
The Michigan Republican Party already is critical of Whitmer, calling her leadership a disastrous return to policies of former Governor Jennifer Granholm.
“I think that if she was really interested in that job she would have run for it full time,” said Sarah Anderson, Communications Director for the Michigan Republican Party.
“We had our government shut down, budgets out of control, unemployment was skyrocketing, and people were buying one way tickets out of Michigan,” said Anderson. “We've taken the past six
years under Republican leadership under Governor Snyder to build back up and to create jobs.”
It'll be quite some time before Michigan’s next governor is elected however, we may already have an idea how things may sway based on our past.
“There is a big advantage because we hold our elections in the mid-term for the party that does not control the presidency especially those elections right after a new president usually we see some pendulum moving in the other direction,” said Matt Grossman, political analyst at Michigan State University.
Whitmer says she'll spend the next few months traveling around the state to talk to Michiganders about key issues.
