Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by December 31, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week, or 5 paid subscribers per day for the three days a week we publish. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support!
As former President Joe Biden once whispered to President Barack Obama when he was serving as Obama’s Vice President, “This is a big fucking deal.”
If Michigan’s current Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is successful in her bid to become Michigan’s next Governor, which now appears increasingly likely given her wide lead in the polls and former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s decision to exit the race, Michigan will become one of the very few states that will have elected two women governors back-to-back. This is not an insignificant distinction, especially considering that current Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is extremely popular and is finishing out her second term, serves alongside two other top elected women officials, Benson and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
I couldn’t help but be curious, so I had to look up the history behind all this. I’m well aware of the understandable controversy surrounding AI, but I do have to admit that ChatGPT is pretty amazing when it comes to research. I still won’t let it touch anything I write, not even to edit it, but it has become invaluable as a research tool.
Anyway, you have that disclaimer now. So here is what my friendly AI research assistant turned up.
Arizona currently holds the record for the most consecutive female governors, with three in a row, and its current Governor, Katie Hobbs, is female.
The only other state besides Arizona that has had back-to-back female governors is New Mexico:
· Susana Martinez (Republican, 2011–2019)
· Michelle Lujan Grisham (Democrat, 2019–present)
But Arizona was the first state to do it, with Jane Dee Hull followed by Janet Napolitano, and then Jan Brewer, giving Arizona three consecutive female governors. Until 2019, Arizona was the only state with consecutive female governors, when New Mexico joined the list after Lujan Grisham succeeded Martinez.
So if Benson steps in behind Whitmer, then she steps into some very significant history, taking Michigan along with her.
But that’s not all. Remember, I said Whitmer serves with an elected female Attorney General and Secretary of State. So, naturally, I had to once again ask my assistant how many other states had seen their way clear to elect three women to serve in top positions at the same time. The answer?
Besides Michigan, Oregon has also had all three offices held by women simultaneously.
In early 2023, Oregon simultaneously had:
Governor: Tina Kotek
Secretary of State: Shemia Fagan
Attorney General: Ellen Rosenblum
Tina Kotek became governor in January 2023, while Shemia Fagan was already serving as secretary of state and Ellen Rosenblum was serving as attorney general.
Michigan later joined that short list with:
Gretchen Whitmer
Jocelyn Benson
Dana Nessel
As far as historical records show, Oregon and Michigan are the only states known to have had women serving simultaneously in all three of those offices.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
Personally, I think making this kind of history in a time like this is something to be proud of. But equally notable is the fact that the gender of Michigan’s top elected officials is something that rarely even gets mentioned anymore around here. Because we’re used to powerful women taking charge. Because that’s the way it should be.
