Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday said she will not enter the race for Michigan governor in 2022, ending speculation of a potential gubernatorial bid.
“I am not running for governor,” DeVos told The Detroit News. “It’s not going to be me. I appreciate that some folks are interested in that, but I think the rumor and interest really only serves to highlight how desperate Michiganders are for new leadership.”
DeVos’s advisers added that the former state party chairwoman never considered challenging Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), The Associated Press reported.
DeVos forged strong ties with former President Trump while she was Education secretary, but left her position one day after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
“There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me,” she wrote to the former president in her resignation letter at the time.
Still, her distancing from Trump has done little to win over Democrats.
DeVos’s absence in the governor’s race does not necessarily mean Whitmer will be on a glide path to reelection. Retired Detroit police chief James Craig recently announced his candidacy.