Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), a speculated 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, attracted both praise and backlash for appearing alongside President Donald Trump as he announced new federal funding for an Air National Guard base in Michigan.

Whitmer’s physical embrace of Trump, accepting a hug from him upon his arrival at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township on Tuesday before his first 100 days rally in Detroit, draws a stark contrast with other Democratic presidential contenders, including Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL), who told Democrats last weekend in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire that “Republicans cannot know a moment of peace.”

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Whitmer’s and Pritzker’s different approaches to Trump and Republicans underscore the disagreement among Democrats about how to deal with the president, considering the GOP’s popular vote win in last year’s election. However, they are expressing more confidence now that the average presidential approval rating is 45% approve-52% disapprove, at least according to RealClearPolitics.

Whitmer and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) are examples of 2028 Democrats who are trying to portray themselves as centrist Democrats, a particularly striking moderation for Newsom thanks to his new podcast, featuring Republicans such as former White House chief political strategist and MAGA whisperer Steve Bannon and Turning Point USA founder and president Charlie Kirk.

“Gov. Whitmer’s moderation is a hell of a lot more authentic than whatever Newsom is doing,” Democratic strategist Jim Manley told the Washington Examiner. “I would like to know what highly paid political consultant advised him to set up that podcast — ’cause he or she needs to be fired. Platforming Steve Bannon is not a good way to get ahead, given the current state of the country.”

Whitmer has defended her appearance with Trump, adamant that “it doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned any of my values” or that “I’m not going to stand my ground.”

“This is one of those moments where, as a public servant, you’re reminded your job is to put service above self, and that’s what it was all about,” Whitmer told Pod Save America this week.

But the delicacy of the balance she is trying to strike was on display last month when she was photographed in the White House’s Oval Office after a meeting with Trump regarding federal funding to help Michigan recover from an ice storm that struck in March. She was caught attempting to hide from photographers by holding a folder up to her face.

“There are two possible journeys of upwardly mobile party politicians: Court the base by pointing the political compass in one direction or expand the base by encompassing many more points of view,” Suffolk University Political Research Center director David Paleologos told the Washington Examiner. “For Democrats, we see both approaches via the words and actions of J.B. Pritzker and Gretchen Whitmer.”

Presidential candidates too far left on the political spectrum abandon independent voters to win their party’s nomination and often are doomed to fail because they find themselves too far from the center, Paleologos said.

“Candidates who moderate rarely win a party nomination because independents usually skip voting in primaries,” the pollster said. “To be successful, presidential hopefuls need to cover terrain from both journeys, veering enough to the left initially to secure a plurality party nomination, followed by the gentle tacking back to the center in order to collect swing voters who may feel alienated by Trump.”

“In short,” he added, “our political party system is designed to reward two-faced politicians who promise party extremists one thing and promise moderates another, all within a matter of weeks.”

Democratic strategist Christopher Hahn provided another perspective, contending that “voters want politicians to find common ground when they can and push back on each other when they must.”

“Her interaction with Trump may be viewed as political malpractice by some in the same way Chris Christie was demonized by Republicans for hugging Obama, but I suggest in both instances they were putting their governing responsibilities first,” Hahn told the Washington Examiner.

Joanne Carducci, a liberal political commentator with a large social media following, known as JoJoFromJerz, blasted the moment of affection on X. “Gretchen Whitmer what the actual f***?!? A hug?!?”

Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) similarly stood up for Whitmer, unsurprisingly, as a fellow governor with presidential aspirations whose state has experienced multiple natural disasters.

“As a governor, when any president of any party does something that helps your people, you ought to give them credit,” Beshear told Fox News.

Aside from the likes of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) in Congress, who have held rallies with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and found their voice on social media, respectively, it is Democratic governors who appear to be leading the charge against Trump during his second administration as they protest his agenda in court and the court of public opinion.

“Governors have more levers to pull,” Democratic strategist Stefan Hankin told the Washington Examiner. “I mean, there’s nothing Democrats can really do in Congress, or very little.”

To that end, after recent demonstrations that did not take place as early as they did during Trump’s first administration and the president’s poor polling, Democrats seem more emboldened to disagree with the commander in chief following Trump winning last year’s election by 86 electoral votes and more than 2 million ballots.

Another Democratic strategist, who did not wish to be identified, relayed her relief that Democrats are “finally fighting back” after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was scrutinized for his decision to support a Republican-led federal funding bill to avoid a government shutdown in March. Many voters have become frustrated by what Pritzker last weekend described as “do-nothing Democrats” in the face of Trump’s drastic reforms to domestic and foreign policy.

As Democrats find their way forward, be it Whitmer’s or Pritzker’s approach, Hankin encouraged his counterparts not to condemn their own — yet.

“Maybe she didn’t need to hug him, but, you know, it’s fine,” Hankin said of Whitmer and Trump. “Democrats have to give other Democrats kind of a bit of a break here in that everyone’s figuring out different ways to deal with it, and eventually we’ll figure out the best way, but attacking each other isn’t super awesome.”

Meanwhile, Michigan Democrats have also reserved judgment concerning their governor, whose response to the Supreme Court‘s repeal of Roe v. Wade before the 2022 midterm elections salvaged her reputation, damaged during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically after her own husband defied her strict public health restrictions.

“I can’t speak for the party and what [it] is exactly they want, however, I see Gov. Whitmer’s action in approaching Donald Trump as a very pragmatic, needed action,” Sameh Elhady, vice chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party’s Arab American caucus, told the Washington Examiner. “She has an obligation to take care of it, and she made her position clear before in his first term that she is against him, but now, in the interest of the people of her state, she needs to swallow her pride and work with him.”

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Michigan Republican strategist Jamie Roe gave credit to Whitmer for being at the Trump event this week, calling the endeavor of getting a new fighter mission for the air base a decadeslong one, but he criticized Democrats who are afraid to be seen working with the president as “just ridiculous.”

“If working with a president on behalf of the state is a problem for the Democrat Party, it shows that Trump derangement syndrome is a terminal problem for their party,” Roe told the Washington Examiner.