With less than two weeks until Gretchen Whitmer traditionally offers her State of the State address, the governor announced she’s going on tour to promote another edition of her new book.

“I’m so excited to introduce my new book, TRUE GRETCH-YOUNG ADULT EDITION to teens and readers across the country starting this month!” Whitmer posted to X on Tuesday. “I’ll be distributing signed copies of the book at @SchulerBooks at the end of the month, and then I’ll then be headed to New York City for an event @92ndStreetY in conversation with @BusyPhilipps on 1/27!”

The kickoff to Whitmer’s book tour comes roughly the same week the governor typically delivers her annual State of the State address, which she has yet to schedule for 2025.

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“Stay tuned for updates soon about more upcoming tour stops in Traverse City, Ann Arbor, and across Michigan, as well as Washington, D.C., Coral Gables, Indianapolis, and more!” Whitmer posted.

The tour is the second for the same book, following stops at late-night talk shows, events, bookstores, and other destinations in multiple states last year to promote “True Gretch: What I’ve Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between.”

This year, Whitmer is making a second round with the young adult version “to help young readers find the good and use it to make a difference in their own lives,” she wrote in an October X post.

“In the Young Adult edition of her bestselling memoir True Gretch, Governor Gretchen Whitmer isn’t offering empty slogans — she’s telling you straight up how to step into the political arena and force real change. This isn’t about waiting politely for our turn or hoping the adults in charge finally listen. It’s about recognizing that our voices belong in these conversations right now,” according to the event page for Collective by 92NY, the group hosting Whitmer in New York City later this month.

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“For too long, young people have been told we’ll ‘shape the future’ someday — well, the world is on fire, and we can’t afford to wait,” the page read. “Our ideas, our courage, and our urgency are needed right now. Whitmer’s lessons won’t sugarcoat the challenges, but they will remind us that we don’t have to accept the status quo. We can question it, confront it, and change it.”

Whitmer will also be in Traverse City alongside Chasten Buttigieg, husband of U.S. Transportation Secretary and potential Michigan Democratic gubernatorial candidate Pete Buttigieg, on Feb. 7.

The second-round book tour comes as Whitmer faces criticism for prioritizing her political ambitions over her constituents as she’s spent nearly a third of the last year away from the state for a variety of reasons.

Political observers believe the book tour and high profile campaigning for Democrats in 2024 are designed to raise Whitmer’s political profile in anticipation of a potential run for president in 2028.

A recent analysis by The Detroit News of bonus payments to Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II for serving as governor when Whitmer’s away suggests he could have been paid for 78 days, or 29% of the first nine months of 2024, though Whitmer spokesman Bobby Leddy disputed the figures, claiming instead it was 58 days, or 21%.

In addition to numerous campaign stops on behalf of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in Texas, Arizona, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Illinois, New Hampshire, and elsewhere in 2024, Whitmer racked up plenty of frequent flyer miles promoting her book, accepting social media awards, and international travel for state “investment missions.”

For True Gretch, Whitmer trekked to Seattle, Santa Monica, San Francisco, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., Little Rock, and appeared on The Lake Show with Stephen Colbert, Good Morning America, The View, CNN and other programs. On the Colbert program, the host ridiculed the book for being “slender,” which he prefaced with the question, “At what point in the last 12 days did you write this?”


In March, Whitmer headed to sunny San Diego amid a winter storm that knocked out power to an estimated 650,000 Michiganders, though the reason why was unclear.

In May, it was a trip to the 28th Annual Webby Awards in New York City, where she celebrated the “success” of her “Governor Barbie” online campaign in 2023, which featured a Whitmer lookalike cruising the state in a vintage pink Corvette to tout the governor’s policies on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Facebook.

There were also overseas trips to South Korea, Taiwan, and Spain to “expand Michigan’s global footprint and attract new economic opportunities to the state.”

The total time off and cost to taxpayers, meanwhile, remains unclear.

Detroit News reporter Craig Mauger noted on X “if it weren’t for a pay bump the LG gets when the governor leaves the state, it would be nearly impossible to determine how often Michigan’s governor leaves the state.

“That’s because (Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act) doesn’t apply to the governor’s office.”

While Whitmer campaigned for governor on a promise to change that reality, it has yet to happen, despite two years with a Democratic government trifecta.

Senate Bill 670, which would expand the state’s FOIA provisions to the governor and legislature, cleared the Senate last June, but died in the House Committee on Government Operations in a lame duck session rife with Democratic infighting and chaos.

State Sens. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, and Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, reintroduced the legislation last week as Senate bills 1 and 2 for the current session.

“I cannot underscore enough how important this legislation is to change the institutions in Lansing and build trust between us and the constituents we serve,” Moss said last year.