Gretchen Whitmer, governor of US State of Michigan has won a re-election bid in midterm election.
In one of the nation’s most crucial political battleground states, she defeated Republican opponent Tudor Dixon.
According to CNN’s projection, Whitmer won a second term after running a campaign that was largely centred on her support for abortion rights in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
She led the charge for a citizens’ initiative on Michigan’s fall ballot that would amend the state’s constitution to guarantee abortion rights, and she was successful in her lawsuit to stop the enforcement of the state’s 1931 abortion ban.
Her victory cements Whitmer’s place — two years after she was a finalist for President Joe Biden’s vice presidential pick — as a leading figure within the Democratic Party moving forward.
And it demonstrates the limits of voters’ willingness to punish officials in competitive states who took strict measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic, including school and business closures.