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Gov. Whitmer Recaps A Tumultuous 2020 Year

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The country has never seen a year like 2020 and hopefully they won’t ever again.

For Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the year began with hopes of finally fixing the damn roads but took a sharp detour when hit by a pandemic.

Add on a major flooding event and the largest election in US history and 2020 never seemed to let up.

I don’t think I’ve even processed 2020,” said Governor Whitmer during a 1-on-1 interview with 9&10 News Tuesday.

There’s been a lot. So much that it’s easy to forget the year started for Gov. Whitmer with her eyes set on road funding, making headlines with a $3.5 billion road bonding plan.

“Where I could go alone I did,” said Whitmer, “And I’m proud, even though we haven’t talked about the roads very much this year, that the orange barrels are out and we’ve been making progress.”

February came and the state was still on track. The National Democratic Party hand picked Whitmer to give the official party response to the State of the Union address.

“We wanted to make sure that Michigan was portrayed in a positive light,” said Whitmer, “I didn’t want to take any gratuitous swings at the president. I wanted to focus on values and what really mattered.”

COVID-19 was spreading across the country but it was not in Michigan, until it was. The first two confirmed cases on Primary Day, March 10th.

“Michigan was a little late to get COVID cases but we heated up fast so we really needed to be nimble and take quick action,” said Whitmer.

Within a week, restaurants, gyms, theaters and other businesses closed down, a Stay-at-Home order soon after.

“It really was important to move swiftly,” said Whitmer, “Studies have shown that the actions we took saved thousands of lives.”

As Michigan sought help, Whitmer took those swings as she had earlier, this time directing them at the White House.

“It’s also when I said there wasn’t a national strategy and I think that’s when I got the president’s ire and it kind of change the whole dynamic here on the ground,” said Whitmer, “I stand by it. Here we are 10 months later and I think that’s still an accurate statement.”

March, April and into May, Michigan saw the spike, rode out the lockdown while protests and pushback rose up.

Then another major date came, May 19th.

“That was really a tough day,” said Whitmer.

That was the day two dams broke in Midland and Gladwin Counties. Several communities flooded and hundreds of homes submerged. A 500-year flood hits during a 100-year pandemic.

“We had to take action. Lives were depending on it and we did it without a single loss of life,” said Whitmer, “Which is really pretty incredible.”

As the flood waters receded, so did COVID cases over the summer. The economy reopened and students went back to school.

The state waited to see if the second COVID spike would hit in the Fall. At that time, Whitmer was thrown into the spotlight again on October 8th, the day arrests were made in the plot to kidnap her.

“I wasn’t prepared for the incredible international interest in the story so it’s just kind of been another piece of an already wild year,” said Whitmer.

The plot became a political football as the election came and went. Since Joe Biden’s win on November 3rd, Michigan stayed in the national headlines with claims of election fraud.

“Maybe we should say ‘false accusations of fraud’ because there was no fraud in this election,” said Whitmer, “There have been no examples of fraud.”

At the same time, the second spike hit and harder than the first.

“It’s unfortunate that our numbers got as bad as they were,” said Whitmer, “All of these things converging, the advent of flu season, the dropping of the temperature, us coming together, it contributed to spread.”

As the state limped through December, the cases have steadily dropped and the long awaited vaccine arrived. Showing a path out of the pandemic and into a new year.

“The vaccine is safe, it is effective and it is a key to getting back to some normalcy,” said Whitmer, “I think there’s a lot of hope for 2021 and I’m excited.”

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