PARAMUS, N.J. — As Detroit rapper Gmac Cash’s “Big Gretch” blared through the speakers at a union hall, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer walked out onto the rally stage. But the Democrat wasn’t campaigning in her home state.
Whitmer found herself in New Jersey on Saturday morning, just more than two weeks before voters select their next governor in one of two governor’s contests in the country this year.
“Some of you might know me as ‘Big Gretch,’” Whitmer said. “Some people refer to me as 'that woman from Michigan.' However you know me, I am damn glad to be here in the Garden State this morning.”
Whitmer then made her pitch for Rep. Mikie Sherrill to join the ranks of Democratic governors — a speech that also doubled as a potential preview of a Whitmer pitch to lead the Democratic Party.
She is among the possible presidential hopefuls hitting the campaign trail in New Jersey and Virginia as Democrats try to chart a path after President Donald Trump’s 2024 victory. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore also joined Sherrill over the weekend, while Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota stumped for her this month. In Virginia, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is set to appear with former Rep. Abigail Spanberger on Tuesday, while Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear campaigned in the state last month.
There could be more to come before Nov. 4. A spokesperson for Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told Politico that Shapiro is expected to campaign in neighboring New Jersey. A Shapiro spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on his plans.
“We generally bring people into the community where the community has been asking for this surrogate,” Sherrill told reporters after an event with Moore in Newark on Sunday morning when she was asked whether former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris would join her on the campaign trail.
Sherrill said “multiple people” had requested that Moore come to the state. She also said her campaign received similar requests about Whitmer and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a New Jersey native and potential presidential contender who was recently scheduled to campaign with Sherrill but could not make the event. Sherrill said her campaign has reached out to “several” potential surrogates.
Those big-name surrogates can also be a draw for supporters, like a pair of Burlington County residents, Kristie and Noelle, who attended the rally with Whitmer. Both women declined to share their last names while they discussed politics.
“I’ve just always been impressed with her,” Kristie said. “So I just wanted to see her up close, in person.”
“I also see her as the future of the Democratic Party, a future leader,” said Noelle.
Cesar Vizcaino, a Newark resident who works with local businesses, was excited to see Moore on Sunday afternoon, when he kicked off a door-knocking event in the city’s West Ward. Moore also joined Sherrill for events with local leaders and veterans earlier in the day.
Vizcaino said it would be a “great thing” if Moore ran for president, saying, “I think he has the charisma, the way to speak to people, the ability to connect with people, to go ahead and make those changes that are necessary once he gets in.”
Moore told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” this year that he is "not running for president." And Whitmer recently cast some doubt on her own presidential ambitions, saying, “I anticipate helping, but I don’t know if I’m going to be the person.”
But other presidential candidates, including former President Barack Obama, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and billionaire Tom Steyer, had once said they would not run for the White House, only to reverse course when presidential campaign season arrived.
“You know who’s not a 2028 hopeful? This guy right here,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin joked when he was asked about the potential presidential contenders hitting the campaign trail this year. He said it’s no surprise that Democratic governors are flocking to New Jersey and Virginia.
“They are a close-knit group of people. They want to make sure that they’re electing more governors to their ranks,” Martin told NBC News as he knocked on doors in Medford, New Jersey, on Saturday afternoon.
While they help potential future colleagues, the campaign trail appearances give the current governors a chance to sharpen their pitches to Democratic voters outside their own states.
Whitmer, whom Sherrill referred to as “a fantastic mentor,” discussed her own background as she addressed the packed union hall in Paramus.
“In Michigan, when people need help, we don’t ask who did you vote for before we decide we’re going to help you. We just roll up our sleeves and get to work,” Whitmer said, touting her work on Medicaid coverage, tax cuts and efforts to “fix the damn roads.”
As he rallied volunteers, including union members, in Newark, Moore also pointed to his work with unions in Maryland on the minimum wage, tax reforms and giving people with misdemeanor cannabis convictions “a second chance at life.”
Reflecting on why he was in New Jersey, Moore said his answer "is very, very, very simple," calling Sherrill "a public servant and someone who has spent her life fighting for the people."
And Moore cast the New Jersey race as a fight for the future of the country.
“We are watching you, and we need you. The message that needs to be sent to this White House will be sent with a Jersey accent,” Moore said, eliciting laughs and applause from the crowd gathered in the middle of a street in the West Ward. “Everybody is about to learn. We don’t bend the knee; we don’t capitulate. We do not compromise on our values. We fight for our people, and we leave no one behind.”
Asked earlier in the day about the future of the Democratic Party, Moore told reporters that races for governor are “more important than ever before.”
“Because we don’t just have to rail against what’s going on, the horrible things that are coming on from Washington, D.C., right now,” he said, adding that Democratic governors can “actually show an alternative and show what a better path actually looks like for our people.”
Whether that message resonates with Democratic voters in a future presidential primary remains to be seen. And even though the first Democratic presidential primary contests are more than two years away, the question of who can actually win is already looming.
“I think Wes Moore would be a great president, too. I think [Whitmer] would be a great president,” said Noelle, the woman from Bergen County who attended the rally with Whitmer. “It’s what we’re ready to elect, I think, is the bigger issue. They are ready to do it, but we need to get people there that are going to be elected.”
