President Donald Trump hugged Gov. Gretchen Whitmer upon landing Tuesday in Michigan to announce a new fighter mission at Selfridge Air National Guard Base. He lavished praise on her during a speech at the base, referring to her as simply “Gretchen” more than once. And when he was done speaking, he invited the Democrat to the podium to give remarks she said she was not planning.

“I am so, so grateful that this announcement was made today, and I appreciate all the work,” Whitmer said, without specifically praising Trump.

Trump’s announcement that he would “save Selfridge” with the new fighter mission marked a long-sought victory for Whitmer and her battleground state. But the scene also illustrated the political minefield that Whitmer, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, has had to navigate as she has sought to build a working relationship with Trump at a time when other ambitious Democrats are spoiling for a fight.

Trump wasted little time acknowledging the bipartisan moment as he spoke Tuesday with Whitmer in the background. He complimented her as “very effective.”

“I’m not supposed to do that. She’s a Democrat,” Trump said. “They say: ‘Don’t do that. Don’t have her here.’ I said, ‘No, she’s going to be here.’ She’s done a very good job, frankly, and she was very much involved with the Republicans” on Selfridge.

Whitmer’s efforts reached an awkward juncture earlier this month when she went to the White House to lobby Trump on Selfridge and other state-related issues. While she was there, she found herself standing in the Oval Office while Trump signed a batch of executive orders targeting his political opponents. The New York Times later published a photo showing her shielding her face from the camera.

Her office quickly clarified that she was invited into the Oval Office without knowing what Trump was about to do and that she did not endorse his actions by being there. She later made light of the unflattering photo, saying she simply did not want her picture taken, but otherwise stood by the White House visit as a necessary part of trying to get things done for her state.

On Tuesday, in the eyes of her supporters, the political indignity of the Oval Office appearance paid off.

Mark Hackel, the Democratic county executive in Macomb County, said he had thought momentum for a new fighter mission at Selfridge was slipping until Whitmer made the trip to the White House.

“Her going to White House … on the heels of an election where she was heavily involved campaigning for the Democratic nominee [against Trump], I think, says a lot about her understanding about her role is to be the governor of all, not just her party,” Hackel said in an interview.

Yet, to other Democrats, Whitmer is showing herself to be out of step with a political moment when Trump represents an existential threat to democracy.

“I think the fight-back faction of the Democratic Party is ascendant, and leaders who ignore that risk getting left behind,” said Ezra Levin, co-executive director of the liberal organizing group Indivisible.

Whitmer appeared well aware that Tuesday’s appearance with Trump would be politically fraught. Earlier in the day, her office emphasized that she would not be joining Trump for the main reason he was visiting Michigan: a subsequent rally to celebrate his first 100 days in office. And on social media beforehand, she promised to work with anyone “who’s serious about getting things done” but to “never compromise” her values.

The scenes Tuesday showed how far their relationship has come since 2020, when they clashed amid the coronavirus pandemic and Trump brushed off Whitmer as “that woman from Michigan.”

In a statement after the event, Whitmer called then new fighter mission a “big, bipartisan win” and said she “appreciate[d] the President’s partnership.”

Whitmer and other Michigan elected officials have been advocating for a new fighter mission at Selfridge for several years, concerned that the planned phaseout of the A-10 mission at the base would have been a huge economic blow to the defense industry in Macomb County.

The base contributes an estimated $850 million annually to Michigan’s economy, and state officials estimate that the base supports some 30,000 jobs, including about 5,000 members of the Air and Army National Guard and Reserve.

“Gretchen, that’s a big economic [impact],” Trump said Tuesday.

The Democratic governor made the case to the Biden and Trump administrations that the base was not only an economic anchor for Macomb County but also uniquely suited to support a new fighter mission because of its legacy of serving F-16s and A-10s. She has emphasized the base’s strategic position at an international border, with both land and airspace to conduct training missions.

In a way, Tuesday’s announcement was the culmination of a number of face-to-face interactions Whitmer has had with Trump that she has used to press her state’s issues. She first met with the president at the White House in March and, before that, sat next to him during a February dinner there for the National Governors Association.

Before her latest White House visit, she gave a speech in Washington about bipartisanship in which she staked out a more nuanced position on tariffs than most Democrats. She criticized the impact that Trump’s tariffs have had on Michigan but also said she understood the “motivation” behind the levies and echoed Trump in hoping for a “golden age of American manufacturing.”

Whitmer’s approach contrasts with that of some other potential 2028 candidates in her party, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. He gave a speech to New Hampshire Democrats on Sunday in which he criticized “do-nothing” Democrats and declared that it is “time to fight everywhere, all at once.”

“These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace,” Pritzker said.

Another possible White House contender, Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), made clear in a TV interview — four days after Whitmer’s speech in Washington — that he disagreed with Democrats who were trying to take more measured stances on Trump’s tariffs. He said that his opposition to the president’s tariffs was “unequivocal” and that there was “no wisdom” in them.

In Michigan, Whitmer has had an intraparty foil in Attorney General Dana Nessel (D), who has repeatedly sued the Trump administration and struck a more combative tone toward the president. Nessel has leaned into their dueling styles at times.

“Why I refuse to normalize this president: Appeasement is not [a] workable strategy with a fascist,” Nessel wrote on X a day after Whitmer’s Oval Office appearance, sharing an earlier interview where she suggested she has little “common ground” with Trump.

While Whitmer made light of the Oval Office photo, it is likely to endure among her political rivals, specifically those she could face for the 2028 presidential nomination.

Adrian Hemond, a Democratic strategist in Michigan, said in the wake of the Oval Office visit that most people in Michigan understand it is “part of the job” for the governor to work with the president, regardless of party. He expressed doubt that Whitmer wants to run for president but acknowledged that the visit was less than ideal politically.

“Nationally, you could view this as a pretty damaging,” Hemond said. “Obviously the photos, the optics coming out of this meeting, weren’t great.”

Maeve Reston contributed to this report.