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Gretchen Whitmer: “We were undercut by the federal government.”

Featuring: Gretchen Whitmer, Democratic | Governor of Michigan

What Democrats Can Learn From Michigan | Gretchen Whitmer

Published August 13, 2026 | Video Starts at 28:21

We're on our own. We're on our own. And we got to build a global procurement operation. And then when we get something, we would find out that We were undercut by the federal government. and we were literally right. I'm told I got to go do this. And now you're making it harder. No, I remember undercutting some other states. (28:21–28:24)

CLAIM

Asserts that [Michigan's procurement efforts] were undermined by the federal government.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Gretchen Whitmer

“In our school, 1.4 million kids get two meals a day, five days a week because of that work.”
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“I flipped the House and the Senate for the first time in 40 years.”
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“Michigan's the most diverse swing state.”
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“Flint, you couldn't drink the water.”
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“I came out with a gas tax, which, as you can imagine, very unpopular.”
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“I couldn't even get the Democrats in the legislature to introduce [the gas tax] for me.”
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“So then I did a bond because I couldn't get the legislation.”
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“We passed marijuana taxes and we took all the money that was raised at the pump and put it into roads.”
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“Fighter mission at Sel Air National Guard Base. And I tried to get that done under the Biden administration, get over the finish line, but I…”
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“They [Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina] were really representative of the country. And I feel like Michigan is, in a way, that is unique.”
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“Tariffs have really hurt Michigan, and so our budget was tougher this year.”
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“With the, all the Medicaid cuts out of D.C. and then what's on the horizon in terms of Medicaid cuts from the big happy bill or whatever the…”
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“Michigan now, if you're LGBTQ, you've got full civil rights protections in your home and in your workplace, which you didn't have before.”
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“We now have enshrined women's reproductive rights under the Constitution.”
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“I would like to have done more when it comes to campaign finance reform, you know, transparency.”
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“The leadership in the House changed and the House didn't send [the bills] to me.”
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“Now the Supreme Court has weighed in, but here we are 18 months later.”
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“These bills had massive ramifications for the budget.”
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“My first term, it was a completely Republican legislature all four years.”
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“During COVID they sued me. They tried to take away my powers.”
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“I used some extraordinary powers of the governor's office.”
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“Everyone was so pissed off that I pulled kids out of school.”
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“I canceled prom. I canceled graduation.”
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“I was vetted for Biden.”
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“We built a global procurement operation essentially overnight.”
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“We got to build a global procurement operation.”
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“I just endorsed the woman who's running to replace me, Jaslyn Benson, our Secretary of state.”
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“I've got a Fight like Hell pack.”
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“We're recruiting and training people. So a lot of those folks that won in Virginia to flip the legislature.”
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“We want to help bring down the cost of things.”
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“I don't want chaotic tariff policies that make Michiganders lives more expensive and harder.”
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“I don't want to be at a verbal war and trade war with Canada for God's sake.”
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