Gov. Gretchen Whitmer‘s (D-MI) suggestion this week that she is unlikely to join the growing field of Democrats eyeing the White House in 2028 amounted to a striking acknowledgment from a politician who, not long ago, was viewed as one of her party’s brightest rising stars.

Whitmer told FOX 2 Detroit that she would “not be one” of a “robust group of people running for president” in 2028, though she later tempered the comment by telling reporters, “Never say never.”