Gov. Whitmer delivers final State of the State address

At her final State of the State address, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer focused on education and literacy, housing and healthcare. 

The term-limited Democratic governor outlined a list of goals for her final year in office, and celebrated the accomplishments of her seven years leading the state of Michigan.

Literacy and education

Whitmer announced a plan to address illiteracy rates in Michigan children, with a plan called Every Child Reads. 

“Illiteracy is a challenge that compounds over time. How could anyone enjoy learning when you can’t read your textbook?” Whitmer said. “American students are falling behind, and Michigan is no exception. There’s a gender gap here too. Boys are behind girls in reading at every age. Michigan is 44th for 4th grade reading. Forty-fourth.”

Whitmer’s executive budget recommendation for fiscal year 2027 includes nearly $625 million towards literacy efforts. 

Some Michigan Republicans, including Senate minority leader Aric Nesbitt, R-District 20, were critical of Whitmer’s address. Nesbitt is running for the Republican nomination for governor. 

“Gov. Whitmer finally wants to talk about solving the literacy crisis. It’s about time. But what she won’t talk about is how she gutted standards with Lansing Democrats or how she vetoed millions and millions of dollars to help kids recover lost learning after her COVID lockdowns,” Nesbitt said in a statement released shortly after Whitmer began her address. “By nearly every metric, Michigan is worse off today than when Gov. Whitmer first took office.”

House of Representatives Speaker Matt Hall, a Republican representing District 42, also criticized Whitmer ahead of her speech.

"If there are wins to celebrate tonight, they happened because Michigan House Republicans led and delivered," he said in a post on X.

Housing

Another focus of Whitmer’s speech was on housing, including affordability and access.

“In the 90s, I bought my first house as a 28-year-old. If you’re a 28-year-old now and you think that sounds crazy — you're right. Because a lot has changed since then,” Whitmer said. 

The median age of first-time home buyers is 40, Whitmer said. 

“I want all our young people to succeed and put down roots in Michigan. They should be able to buy a house and start a family. They deserve a life that’s just as good and hopefully better than their parents,” she continued.

She also highlighted the gender gap, reporting that 25% of first-time home buyers are single women, while 10% of first-time buyers are single men.

Whitmer criticized executive tariffs, saying they haven’t helped the cost of homes or the housing shortage. 

“We rely on Canadian lumber and Mexican drywall to build homes, and tariffs have raised the cost of a house by upwards of 17 grand, further exacerbating our housing shortage,” she said. “We can’t change national tariffs — believe me, I’ve tried — but we can build more quality, affordable housing in Michigan.”

In her speech, Whitmer advocated for more streamlined zoning and the removal of what she described as nonsensical construction requirements. 

After her address, House Regulatory and Reform committee chairperson and Rep. Joe Aragona, R-District 60, told The Echo that he appreciated Whitmer’s focus on housing.

“The governor and I and, I’m gonna say, like five, six, seven other legislators sat down for breakfast two days ago to talk through some of this zoning reform,” he said. “We don’t have to spend any money to make changes.”

Proposed zoning reforms are “trying to incentivize builders to be able to build more affordable, smaller, first-time type homes,” Aragona continued. 

Reforms need to allow for more housing density, he said. Multiplex homes greater than a duplex are currently zoned under commercial code, he said, which makes them more expensive. Proposed legislation would also allow for a tax credit, to incentivize builders, he added.

Healthcare

During her address, Whitmer said healthcare will be another focus for the state this year, particularly after the U.S. Congress allowed Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire last year.

“Last year, the majority in Washington, D.C., voted to slash Medicaid and SNAP by $1 trillion, ripping health care and food away from millions of our neighbors, family, and friends. They went home and did nothing and let premiums on the Affordable Care Act skyrocket,” she said. “I’m calling on members of Congress: renew the ACA subsidies to provide real relief to Michiganders who now must pay thousands more for the same coverage they had last year.”

“No state can pick up the massive tab the federal government is dropping on us. It’s just not possible. What we can do is make health care more convenient and more affordable,” she added.

In Michigan, Whitmer said, lawmakers must respond by addressing increased medical debt, including capping interest rates on medical debt, preventing it from showing up on credit reports, requiring hospitals to set up financial assistance programs and ban liens or foreclosures on homes because of medical debt.

She said federal cuts to Medicaid could impact 2.5 million Michiganders, which is why she proposed a plan to stabilize Medicaid funding in her budget recommendation for the 2027 fiscal year. 

Her budget proposal includes taxes on tobacco, other nicotine products, digital advertising and revenue from online gaming. 

Reflecting on her term

After seven years in the Governor’s Office, Whitmer will wrap up her tenure at the end of the year. She highlighted some of the state’s accomplishments of the course of her gubernatorial reign, including increased tax credits, an end to taxes on tips and overtime, clean energy and improved road conditions, one of the promises Whitmer campaigned on.

We’ve had some of the busiest construction seasons in Michigan history and more are coming. There’s still a lot of work to do. When you see those orange barrels just know… I’m sorry and you’re welcome," she said. 

Whitmer mentioned other accomplishments, such as increased funding for children and education, abortion access written into the state constitution, gun violence prevention laws and anti-discrimination efforts protecting Black and LGBTQ+ Michiganders. 

Whitmer also reflected on her term as she prepares to leave office in January, crediting her recently passed father for encouraging her career in politics.  

"I've been to all 83 counties many times. I’ve met Michiganders on the frontline of every problem. Even as we’ve dealt with a lot of darkness over the past seven years, I’ve been overwhelmed by the light that I’ve seen in my fellow Michiganders. Our state is full of good, honest, hard-working people who care deeply about their families and want to make their communities better," she said.

"Through a destructive pandemic, devastating floods, deep freezes, and deadly shootings… I’ve seen that tough times don’t last, but tough people do. We’ve all been tested over the past seven years, but we’ve always come out stronger and we always will. There’s no problem we’ve faced that we cannot fix. That’s just who we are," Whitmer added.

Speech reactions

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist told The Echo that the administrations goals for addressing housing, healthcare and literacy set the tone for priorities in 2026.

"I thought it was a really clear articulation of what our priorities should be," he said. "[It] should be the baseline of the negotiation we do with the legislature this year and I think we can get important things done in all three of those areas."

Washtenaw County Sheriff Alyshia Dyer attended the State of the State, and said the issues Whitmer addressed in her speech have a direct link back to law enforcement and public safety.

"I'm glad that she spoke about some of the challenges we are going to have with the healthcare landscape, because that is going to impact public safety. If people can't go see their doctor or social worker, then we all know when safety nets get defunded, law enforcement have to pick up the weight," Dyer said. 

Michigan Rep. Carrie Rheingans, D-District 47, also said Whitmer's focus on healthcare is important amid cuts to Medicaid.

"We are going to start seeing more and more people fall off health insurance, and people are still going to need to go to the hospital, and hospitals are still going to have to get paid. So, they are just going to charge all the paying customers more, and that means everybody with health insurance is going to have their health insurance go up in the next year," Rheingans said.