Gov. Whitmer reflects on first 100 days of Democratic control

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Next week will mark the first 100 days of the Democrats controlling the State House, Senate, and governor’s office in decades.

During that time, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed many of her priorities into law.

“I’ve never seen this much get done in such a short period of time. The legislature has been hard at it. We’ve been negotiating,” said Gov. Whitmer.

Whitmer said she was proud to be able to sign the repeal of the 1931 abortion ban and right-to-work laws as well as expand civil rights protections to members of the LGBTQ+ community. Each passed with very little Republican support.

Senate minority leader Aric Nesbitt said he feels Whitmer has stepped away from the bipartisanship she promised.

“I said ‘If you want to govern in the middle of 70%, let’s work towards that. But if you’re going to jam through a bunch of left-wing, progressive, woke agenda items you’re not going to have partners.’ And that’s what they’ve done,” said Sen. Nesbitt.

Whitmer said she thinks many Republicans are still adjusting to the outcome of the election.

“At the end of the day, the people expect us to roll up our sleeves and work together. I’ll work together to continue to do that,” said Whitmer.

Rep. Sarah Lightner said she would like to see that work be on promises the governor made five years ago.

“Moving forward I really want to see what we’re going to do prioritize roads again because that’s a promise I feel that’s been unfulfilled,” said Rep. Lightner, (R) Springport.

And that means figuring out how to pay for local road repairs with less money from the gas tax, especially with electric vehicles becoming more popular.

“They’re still using our roads and just like anybody else that purchases gas. We need to figure out a way to make that comparable to where they are still paying their fair share,” said Lightner.

Something the governor wants to work with Republicans to figure out.

“We’ve come a long way but there’s more work to do,” said Whitmer.

The governor said since many of her early priorities are accomplished, she’s turning to climate change and working to reduce carbon emissions across the state.

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