TRAVERSE CITY — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s voice is one that carries – on social media, on a hot mic at the state Capitol, over the main floor and balcony of the City Opera House and out into Wednesday night’s livestream.
“As governor, you’re supposed to love every place equally – but I love this place best,” Whitmer said to a sold-out audience that had waited in long lines to pass through security checks.
Whitmer was in town for a National Writers Series event, where she shared stories from her plainspoken memoir, “True Gretch,” published in July.
The title is a riff on a nickname the governor gained during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the moniker “Big Gretch” started popping up on social media, after Whitmer announced rolling executive orders — 69 in eight weeks — in livestreamed press conferences.
The shut-down orders were controversial, former President Donald Trump called her “That woman from Michigan,” and Whitmer acknowledges in the book her response to the pandemic wasn’t perfect.
“We were building the plane while we were flying it,” Whitmer told on-stage interviewer Bob Sutherland, founder of Cherry Republic. And they were relying on the best medical information then available to save lives.
Detroit, she said, was particularly hard-hit and a rapper from the city, Gmac Cash, put the nickname to music and released a video — “We ain’t even ‘bout to stress, we got Big Gretch, fresh in a new dress, yeah, that’s Big Gretch.”
Politics are stressful business and Whitmer, in the book, leans into popular culture, family lessons and the inside skinny on political moments, which appear to be connecting with readers.
Last week, “True Gretch,” subtitled “What I’ve Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between,” hit #3 and #4 on The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction and Hardcover Nonfiction lists.
As of Wednesday afternoon, “True Gretch” was #14 on Amazon’s nonfiction list.
Booksellers said that being on the short list for Vice President Kamala Harris’ possible picks for a running mate probably helped sales, even with Whitmer’s repeated “I’m staying in Michigan” denials.
“It’s a political year, and we imagined there would be some increase in sales because of that, but Traverse City is sort of a blue dog in a red area up here in Northern Michigan, so we didn’t think it would be large, but that was proved wrong,” said Juan Pineda, chief operating officer for Horizon Books.
Pineda said the store placed a large order of books for her to sign — “I’m not at liberty to say how many, but it’s more than 1,000.”
Whitmer, at the event, said she’d signed 1,100 books that day.
Down the street at Brilliant Books, owner Peter Makin said Whitmer’s books are selling so well they can hardly keep them on the shelves.
“It’s been extraordinarily popular here,” Makin said.
Staff at area book stores further afield — The Bookstore in Frankfort and Island Bookstore on Mackinac Island, where the State of Michigan maintains a governor’s summer residence — also say they’re pleased with sales.
“We received the book July 13 and we’re re-ordering,” said Rebecca Hubbard, who works in customer service. “For a small book store, that’s real good.”
Authors of books published by Big Five publishers like Simon & Schuster, typically receive an advance against royalties, although both the publisher and the governor’s office declined to comment on financial compensation Whitmer received for the book.
Whitmer worked with a collaborator, Lisa Dickey, and a literary agent, Jay Mandel, head of WME Books of New York, said she’ll donate net proceeds to the Capital Region Community Foundation, although it’s unclear if this includes the unspecified book advance.
The book, Whitmer said, was written in about three months and she and Dickey held in-person and online interviews to capture Whitmer’s ideas on staying positive during challenging times. Her sense of humor was on display at the event.
“I saw the road construction up here and I bet some of you are cursing me under your breath. … You’re welcome,” she said.
At 176 pages with generous-sized type and several photographs and other images, the book is infused with Whitmer’s humor. She gave shark pins to staffers after an infamous incident where she mouthed “It’s Shark Week (followed by a curse word)” that was captured on video.
While she emphasizes optimism, it doesn’t mean she avoids the hard stuff.
As a college student at Michigan State University, Whitmer says she was raped and never told anyone about it — until 2013 when a “rape insurance” bill was up for a vote in the Michigan legislature where Whitmer served as a state senator.
“It was not only cruel, it was absurd,” Whitmer says, in the book, of the Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act which required women to purchase an insurance rider if they wanted abortion care to be covered.
In an impassioned floor speech, Whitmer revealed the rape and said she was crushed when the bill passed anyway.
In her second term as governor last year she signed a package of laws, The Reproductive Health Act, that added reproductive freedom rights to the state Constitution and repealed the abortion insurance law.
Of particular interest to northwestern Lower Michigan, during Wednesday’s program Whitmer also addressed the 2020 plot to kidnap her, foiled by informants and undercover FBI agents, in October of that year.
Fourteen men were arrested and tried in state and federal courts, eight of whom were later found guilty or accepted plea agreements with prosecutors.
Five men were set to go to trial in Antrim County, where the governor owns a summer home near Elk Rapids, two accepted plea agreements with prosecutors and three others were found not guilty by a jury.
“I’ve always loved meeting people and mingling in big groups,” Whitmer says in the book. “But now, when I walk into a party or event, I find myself scanning the room.”
Whitmer, in the book, expressed a willingness to meet with one or more of the men who pleaded guilty, although said nothing had been scheduled.
Security at the NWS event was heightened, with only clear bags allowed in and ticket-holders directed through two “wanding” lines by security officers using portable metal detectors.
NWS Marketing and Communications Director Noelle Riley said 670 in-person tickets were sold and 477 tickets were purchased for the livestream.
The audience – estimated at about 65 percent women, 35 percent men – gave the governor a standing ovation when she walked on stage. More than 20 applause breaks interrupted her comments during the first half of her talk.
“I’ve been a GW fan since 2018,” Megan Staley of Maple City said. “She’s been doing a really good job. I love the way she brings people together.”
“A lot of people are turned off by political name-calling,” said Jess Piskor of Elmwood Township. “She’s different. She engages in rational discourse and tells it like it is.”
The NWS is a Traverse City-based nonprofit dedicated to engaging world-renowned authors in meaningful conversations hosting 260 authors since 2010.