Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will deliver her annual State of the State speech Feb. 26, according to a news release Friday from her office.
Typically, the governor delivers the annual policy address in January but Whitmer told reporters earlier this week to expect a later date this year.
She said the change in timing this year was meant to accommodate lawmakers traveling to Washington, D.C. for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday. “I wanted to be respectful. The President will take his oath of office next week and I know a lot of the leadership in Lansing will be out there,” Whitmer told reporters Wednesday.
The last time Whitmer delivered the State of State in February was 2019, when she first took office. Her State of the State address this year will be her second to last before she leaves office due to term limits. In her speech next month, Whitmer plans to lay out her economic and education spending agenda, according to the news release from her office.
“Michigan is a state on the move as we continue working together to create good-paying jobs, fix our roads, and invest in our students and schools,” Whitmer said in a statement Friday. “I look forward to delivering my 2025 State of the State Address where I will lay out my plan to build on our years of strong, bipartisan progress and strategic, fiscally responsible leadership.”Whitmer has already publicly outlined some of her policy priorities in a speech at the Detroit Auto Show Wednesday in which she called on lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to come together to compromise on a long-term solution to fund Michigan roads. She did not put forward a proposal of her own to kickoff the negotiations. She also called for a new public fund to bring manufacturing and other auto industry jobs to the state.
Michigan Politics: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer shares concerns about Michigan road funding, auto industry
After spending last year on the campaign trail stumping for Democratic presidential candidates, Whitmer in her speech this month tried to strike a bipartisan tone of cooperation and express her openness to working with Trump and legislative leaders from both parties.
“Michiganders elected both me and Donald Trump twice just two years apart. Every one of us swore an oath to the people we serve and the people expect us to find common ground,” she said. “Now I don’t want to pretend we’re always going to agree but I will always seek collaboration first. I won’t go looking for fights. I won’t back down from them either because I’m not here to play games.”
Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, sent Whitmer a letter Thursday to approve Whitmer’s request to use the House Chambers Feb. 26 for her speech, according to a copy of Hall’s correspondence shared by his spokesperson Greg Manz.
Hall also took the opportunity in the letter to remind Whitmer that he has put forward his own plan to fund roads the day after she called for one in her speech Wednesday. “We delivered a detailed roads plan to you earlier today that would increase funding by more than three billion dollars and do it without raising taxes by one dime. Perhaps your address on February 26 will be the right time to share the details of your plan to solve our state’s long-time roads and infrastructure crisis,” Hall wrote to Whitmer.
Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Gretchen Whitmer announces when she will give 2025 State of the State