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“Hell yes, right?� Whitmer answered, to applause from the overflow crowd of about 700 in a University of Arizona ballroom late Sunday afternoon.

When Whitmer hears people say the U.S. will never have a woman president, “That’s baloney,� she continued. “People who say that have their own agenda,� and some who say it are men who may want to run for the office themselves, Whitmer said.

She said Kamala Harris “did a remarkable job� in her losing presidential campaign last year, especially considering she didn’t start it until “so late in the process,� adding that it was a close election.

“Being a woman is still a strength in this business,� because woman build consensus, listen, and focus on what people really care about, said Whitmer, who is in her seventh year as Democratic governor of Michigan. “Thank you for electing Katie, by the way,� she said of Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs.

At one point in Whitmer’s life, she recalled, “I was caring for my mother at the end of her life and for my daughter at the beginning of hers,� and that experience “eliminated my patience for B.S. I just want to get things done, to make people’s lives better.�

Another audience member asked her how Democrats should respond to Republican President Donald Trump’s actions between now and 2028.

“It is going to take an army of people to help protect people who are vulnerable,� Whitmer responded. “We should give each other the grace to tag into the fight when we can ... the space to jump in when we can jump in,� she said, “and not expect people to die on the hill of every battle.�

She pointed out that Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin faced criticism after delivering the official Democratic response to Trump’s speech to Congress on March 4 — “our fellow Democrats were tearing her down.�

“Every ounce of energy we spend attacking each other takes away from what the real problem is,� Whitmer said, to more applause.

“People are scared, anxious and angry,� she said. But once you realize that some people will criticize you no matter what you do, she said, “It’s liberating.�

“I still feel optimistic, as heavy as the moment we’re living in feels,� she said.

She acknowledged that staying positive has been challenging. “It’s been a long seven weeks.�

“In December, I did not watch the news. I watched a lot of ‘Dexter’ and my kids got worried,� she said, laughing. “But I know this about myself: Disengagement makes my anxiety worse.�

“I’m worried about the people who are being hurt, and the people who will be hurt over the next four years, and I’m worried about policies, and I will do what I can to try to mitigate the harm,� she said.

“Every one of us can do something constructive every day,� she said, listing suggestions including “passing out cards to people you think may be being questioned illegally, to help them know their rights,� attending a town hall with a Congress member, or “simply giving a pat on the back to someone you think is doing a good job.�

“There is optimism to be found,� though some days you have to be more intentional than others about finding it, Whitmer said.

She said she ends each day by writing three things she’s grateful for in a gratitude journal. “I gotta be honest, some nights during the pandemic it was ‘my dogs and wine’ and I struggled to find a third. So I listed the dogs separately and I got to three.�

The pandemic was one of the crises of her first term as governor that she talked about Sunday.

She said the chief medical executive in her administration was an African-American woman and an ER doc in Detroit who noticed very early on the disproportionate number of Black Michiganders who were getting COVID. The state population is 14% Black but 40% of the COVID deaths early on were of Black Michiganders, she said. “Because of her, we saved a lot of lives in Michigan,� she said, referring to the doctor’s expertise and influential outreach to the community.

It’s important to build a diverse team, Whitmer said. “Any Fortune 500 company will tell you, diversity on a team improves the bottom line.�

Another big challenge was “Trump targeting me,� leading to threats “and people on my front lawn with long guns,� while “I was just trying to get people masks during COVID,� she said.

Whitmer pointed out that several women in her Tucson audience were wearing tee-shirts saying “That woman from Michigan,� which is what Trump called her during his first term as president.

“I see a lot of people from Michigan,� she added, as numerous people in the audience wore Michigan shirts or baseball caps. “We’ve got a lot of snowbirds.�

Another crisis was a polar vortex three weeks into her first term, when “we had negative 55-degree wind chills� and faced the risk of a power outage overnight for more than a million Michiganders, which would have caused “a tremendous loss of life.� Her team suggested using an emergency alert system to ask people to turn down their thermostats and put another blanket on the bed, to reduce the load on the electrical system. “It worked.�

Michigan also faced racial unrest during her first term after the killing of George Floyd, she noted.

“And oh yeah, there was a plot to kidnap and kill me, right?�

Whitmer didn’t elaborate Sunday on that , which was foiled by the FBI and state police. But she wrote about it in the 2024 book she was in Tucson to promote, “: What I’ve Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between.� A newly released young adult version features some different and extra material including a Q&A with Whitmer and her daughters, ages 21 and 22.

When an audience member asked whether Whitmer has ever felt pressure to prove herself as a woman in politics, she answered, “Hell yes,� but said she had “a great feminist father and a mother who was a bit of a glass-ceiling shatterer herself� who gave her confidence.

She shared an anecdote about a Republican political opponent in the legislature who made headlines by saying “The governor is on the batshit crazy spectrum.�

She said her dad taught her the 24-hour rule, not to speak when her anger is hot, and her personal goal is “don’t react, respond.� So after mulling it over, “I sent him a birthday cake with a big bat on it.� He ended up laughing and sharing it on social media.

“I’ve learned that sometimes, laughing at a bully is the most disarming thing you can do,� Whitmer said, adding that she tells young people, “Don’t let a bully decide who you are. You decide who you are.�

When she was previously a Democratic state senator in a Republican-controlled legislature, she was fighting an uphill fight against legislation to force women to buy an insurance rider if they ever wanted to have abortion care. Not only did that mean they had to plan ahead for something they didn’t know they would need, but the rider “was not even available to buy on the commercial marketplace,� she said. “It was just another barrier� to “a very important right.�

“There were more people named John in the senate than there were women in the senate. There were five Johns and four women,� she said.

She wanted to have a couple testify about needing a D & C — “an abortion� — after a traumatic miscarriage, but then thought, “How can I ask them to tell their very personal story when I have my own to tell?�

A woman senate staffer advised her “Don’t do it.� “She was savvy enough to know it wouldn’t make a difference in the vote, and she said, ‘You’re just going to make yourself vulnerable.’ “

But Whitmer decided to go ahead and share something on the floor of the Michigan Senate she had told few people in her life.

“I was raped when was I was in college,� she said.

The memory kept her up at night as she worried about the safety of her own two daughters.

She lost the vote, even after that very emotional speech. “I was so depressed.�

But by the next morning when she got to her office, “Hundreds of people had reached out. Their shared their stories, and they thanked me for baring my soul.�

“That has given me purpose,� Whitmer said. “I know not every survivor can, but I’ve found my voice and how to use it.�

Later, as governor, “I signed the repeal of that law,� she said triumphantly.

“These fights are not easy, they take longer than they should, but they are winnable if we stay focused and never give up.�