Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers her State of the State address to a joint session of the House and Senate, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020, at the state Capitol in Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
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UPDATED 8:31 AM PT — Wednesday, February 5, 2020
The governor of Michigan delivered the Democrat Party’s official response to President Trump’s 2020 State of the Union address. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer revealed that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would be giving the response late last month.
While speaking Tuesday night, Gov. Whitmer rebuked many of the president’s claims, including his statements on Democrat health care plans and the U.S. economy. She said Democrats are trying to make health care better and accused Republicans in Washington of trying to take it away. The Michigan governor also claimed the economy under the Trump administration’s doesn’t work for the American people.
“Doesn’t matter what the president says about the stock market,” she stated. “What matters is that millions of people struggle to get by or don’t have enough money at the end of the month after paying for transportation, student loans or prescription drugs — American workers are hurting.”
However, the president’s recently approved USMCA and China trade deals directly help American workers. Additionally, the average unemployment rate under the administration is lower than any other in history.
Immediately following her speech, Gov. Whitmer prompted a wave of backlash from the Republican Governors Association. She’s now facing heat from the association in a new digital ad campaign called “Broken Roads, Broken Promises.”
The group looks to put a spotlight on what they claim are failures to get anything done when it comes to infrastructure. It also touches on her vetoing of hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure funding. The ads will reportedly air on both Facebook and Instagram, and are targeted toward those in the Lansing area.
REMINDER: @gretchenwhitmer has utterly failed to deliver on her campaign promises and has the underwater approval rating to show for it. #SOTUResponse #SOTU2020 pic.twitter.com/dzHbqIUGiK
— The RGA (@The_RGA) February 5, 2020
President Trump has previously called out Gov. Whitmer by suggesting she was failing the residents of Michigan.
“I understand she’s not fixing those potholes, that’s what the word,” he stated. “It was all about roads and they want to raise those gasoline taxes — we don’t want to do that, but she’s not fixing the potholes.”
Polls show Gov. Whitmer’s approval ratings falling in recent months with a seven point dip in her job approval since the passage of an auto insurance reform last year.
