Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is set to take the stage Friday, Nov. 20, for a sold-out Detroit Free Press Breakfast Club forum billed as a wide-ranging look back at her two terms leading Michigan, just weeks before she leaves office. The event, titled “Big Gretch Out: A Conversation with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on the Past, Present, Future,” is expected to touch on politics, business, education and what comes next for the state.
Carol Cain, a Detroit Free Press columnist and host of CBS Detroit's Michigan Matters, will emcee the sold-out gathering and moderate the morning discussion, as she has done for the series since it began. Cain said in comments to the Free Press that Whitmer “has impacted our region and state and been at the helm during a historic time for Michigan,” and added that the conversation would cover the past, present and future of her tenure.
The Nov. 20 appearance carries some symmetry for Whitmer, who appeared at the very same speaker series in January 2019 for her first public event as governor, not long after being sworn in as Michigan's 49th governor. This time, she arrives as her second term winds down — the Free Press reports she will finish her tenure on Dec. 31, 2026, having won re-election in 2022.
The succession is now settled: Democrat Jocelyn Benson won the Nov. 3 gubernatorial election, defeating Republican John James, and will replace Whitmer when the term changes in January. The result gives the Breakfast Club appearance a political backdrop beyond legacy: voters have already chosen the next administration. The same election restored Democratic control of the state House, giving the party unified control of Lansing for the first time since 2022. Benson’s election and the new Democratic trifecta set the stage for the transition.
A Career That Started Long Before the Governor's Office
Whitmer's path to the statehouse began 26 years ago. She was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2000 and to the Michigan State Senate in 2006, where she served as Senate Democratic Leader before winning the governorship in 2018. The Free Press describes her as a Michigan State University alumna, lawyer and former prosecutor.
During her time in office, the Free Press reports that Whitmer improved the state's roads, dealt with major changes in Michigan's auto manufacturing sector and confronted the COVID-19 pandemic — a crisis the outlet notes propelled her onto the national stage. She currently serves as vice chair of the Democratic Governors Association, with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear serving as chair.
Whitmer’s references to auto manufacturing land amid a difficult transition for Michigan’s industrial base. Manufacturing employed 582,700 people in 2025, more than 15% of the state’s private workforce, but Michigan manufacturing employment fell 7.1% between 2018 and 2025 and has declined each year since 2023, even as statewide employment grew. The state’s 2026 auto-workforce report projects more than 13,000 new motor-vehicle-manufacturing jobs by 2030, while forecasting losses in parts manufacturing tied to internal-combustion engines. State employment data and the auto-workforce projections show both the scale of the sector and its changing job mix.
A Speaker Series Eight Years in the Making
The Breakfast Club launched in 2018 and has since featured a roster of business and civic leaders discussing issues important to the region. Previous speakers have included Roger Penske, General Motors' Mark Reuss, Dan Gilbert, Bill Ford, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, Jennifer Granholm, former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, John Engler and Detroit Lions president Rod Wood.
The series' very first installment featured Engler, the former governor who was then serving as interim president of Michigan State University. That forum set the template Whitmer herself joined just months later, when she was scheduled to discuss issues crucial to the state at the second Breakfast Club event, held at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham in January 2019.
Other notable editions have followed a similar format focused on a single high-profile Michigan figure. In 2023, Gilbert headlined a forum at the same Birmingham hotel that was set to explore, as the Free Press described it at the time, “the tidings of Detroit, his own wildly successful journey, what's ahead for our region and why he is an unapologetic champion for his beloved Motor City.”
The Breakfast Club is presented by PNC Bank, the Detroit Auto Dealers Association and Health Alliance Plan, presented by Henry Ford and Henry Ford Health. Additional sponsors include Corewell Health, Ford, ITC Michigan, DTE Energy, Visit Detroit, Bedrock, the Detroit Lions, Penske, AAA: The Auto Club, Lawrence Tech University, MIRA, Oakland University, Huntington Bank, Hollywood Casino, the Detroit Regional Partnership and CBS Detroit.
