These governors aren't on the ballot. Some Georgia, Michigan voters wish they were

Deanna McKay at the Wills Park Pool in Alpharetta, Georgia.
Georgia voter Deanna McKay at the Wills Park Pool in Alpharetta, Georgia. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

In a fuchsia blazer, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told a Detroit crowd she was feeling “damn good.”

As the Democrat celebrated a double-digit reelection victory in 2022, a crowd some 700 miles south on the other end of I-75 in Atlanta cheered another decisive win. This one was for Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. “Reports of my political death have been greatly exaggerated,” he proclaimed.

Georgia and Michigan moved in tandem during the last two presidential elections, elevating Donald Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. During the midterms, though, voters elected governors who pushed their states in opposite directions.