Gretchen Whitmer is an American lawyer and politician from the Democratic Party who has been serving as the 49th governor of Michigan since 2019. She previously served in the Michigan House of Representatives in 2001-06 and in the Michigan Senate in 2006-15. She was originally elected to the state senate in a special election replacing Virg Bernero before being elected for a full term, and was re-elected in 2010. She held the post until she was forced to step down due to term limits and was the Senate's first female Democratic leader from 2011 to 2015. She served as the county prosecutor for Ingham County for six months in 2016. She had gained national attention in 2013 after publicly opening up about sexual assault during a debate about abortion rights. She gained further recognition in 2020 for her handling of the coronavirus pandemic, following which she was selected to give the Democratic response to then President Donald Trump's 2020 State of the Union Address.