11 Progressive Women Gearing Up to Take the 2018 Elections by Storm

Gretchen Whitmer, who is running for governor in the state of Michigan, has been fighting to bring attention to the water crisis in Flint — and to hold the state's Republican leadership accountable for the public health disaster.

A vocal proponent of reproductive rights, Whitmer powerfully and publicly shared that she, herself, is a survivor of rape in an impassioned speech in the state legislature in 2013. She recounted her story as she stood in opposition of a bill to restrict abortion insurance. Whitmer is currently the Democratic frontrunner in the Michigan race.