Elle Magazine: For Eight Women Democratic Governors, Friendship “Isn’t a Bonus—It’s Another Critical Part of the Job”

Elle Magazine: For Eight Women Democratic Governors, Friendship “Isn’t a Bonus—It’s Another Critical Part of the Job”

“Since 2018, the DGA has invested more than $80 million electing this class of female Democratic governors”

A new Elle Magazine profile highlights the close friendship formed among the nation’s “historic eight” Democratic women governors: Michelle Lujan Grisham, Maura Healey, Katie Hobbs, Kathy Hochul, Laura Kelly, Tina Kotek, Janet Mills, and Gretchen Whitmer.

Elle Magazine notes: “Most days, the Democratic governors are spread out, commanding their states, working with legislatures, and fighting back against those who are still loath to see a woman in charge. But as the few to hold these unique positions, they insist that the bond they share with one another isn’t a bonus—it’s another critical part of the job.”

DGA Vice Chair and Kansas Gov. Kelly said that the bond initially began “out of true desperation” and a need for camaraderie in a male-dominated field, as Gov. Lujan Grisham pointed out how the “incumbent governors welcomed the newly-elected leaders into the fold,” adding, “This sort of connectedness we’ve created, we immediately extended it to the new Democratic women governors.”

Talking about watching her fellow women Democratic governors deliver for their states, Gov. Whitmer said: “I’m really proud to be amongst their ranks. And I’m cognizant it’s my duty to make sure they feel the same way.”

Massachusetts Gov. Healey told Elle, “There are just very few of us, and it comes with a different set of experiences. We’re caregivers or mothers or aunts or managing households in addition to managing governments. It’s just really helpful to be able to pick up the phone and not only talk important issues of substance and policy, but also life as a female politician is its own exercise.”

Elle also highlighted how “the DGA has invested more than $80 million electing this class of female Democratic governors” as it continues to work to grow the “‘state executive sorority,’ as the Democratic governors once called it.”

Read more here from Elle Magazine about the historic and dynamic group of eight Democratic women governors:

• As the rare women to hold these positions, the United States’ eight female Democratic governors insist their friendship isn’t a bonus—it’s another critical part of the job.

• They might not know exactly how old everyone is or how old their kids are—the details you could easily rattle off about your best friends—but they know the most important thing: what it’s like to carry the weight of a state on your shoulders.

• Hobbs, Healey, and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek are the relative newcomers; all three started their terms in 2023, and Healey and Kotek both made history as the nation’s first openly lesbian governors. Though they weren’t necessarily strangers beforehand—Mills mentions that she and Healey became friends when they were each attorneys general of their states—Lujan Grisham says the incumbent governors welcomed the newly-elected leaders into the fold. “This sort of connectedness we’ve created, we immediately extended it to the new Democratic women governors,” she says. After all, the rest of the crew knows how essential it is to have one another in case of emergency.

• They say watching a female colleague “own her space” and “take on a fight,” as Whitmer puts it, doesn’t create a platform for rivalry. It instead creates an opportunity for all of them to feel comfortable doing the same. Whitmer points to a few times the other governors’ grit has inspired her, like in 2021, when Kelly promoted axing the state’s sales tax on food, all while holding an actual ax, or when Hobbs was “staring down” people who tried to undermine the 2020 election.

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