Gretchen Whitmer is the only female gubernatorial candidate in a year when the national political winds are at female candidates' backs.

But when she first got in the Michigan governor's race, being a woman wasn't an asset.

"I jumped in so early into this cycle and I think it was kind of the opposite environment as right now, because I think some people took away from the last election that it wasn't strong to be a woman on the ballot, that maybe it was a downside," Whitmer said.

"And now I think people really see what's happening and realize no, this could be a real dramatic year of electing women, of women turning out, of women deciding elections."

RELATED: MLive partners with the League of Women Voters of Michigan to provide candidate information and other voting resources to our Michigan readers at vote411.org.

If Whitmer wins the Democratic primary she will be tasked with helping lead an all-female statewide ticket for the Michigan Democratic Party, a historic first. It's unprecedented, and not everybody sees it as a plus.

"Some were telling me that that was a reason why maybe I shouldn't be on the ticket," Whitmer said. "I didn't buy it when they said it to me and I don't buy it when they say it about other candidates. I want to make sure that I am empowering others."

Whitmer, who declined a 2014 gubernatorial run, citing a need to be the best mom to her two girls at the time, got into the 2018 race early, announcing her candidacy in January 2017.

"I jumped in because I knew it was the right thing to do," Whitmer said.

In an era of 'Me Too,' Whitmer was 'Me First'

Whitmer's supporters point to her authenticity and credibility on a number of issues, including a 2013 Senate vote where she shared the story of her own sexual assault while in college. She was trying to sway a vote that required people to have abortion riders on their insurance policies to get coverage.

She didn't sway the vote that day. But she made an impression on Cynthia Thornton, 54, of Detroit.

"I thought it was pretty gutsy of her to tell her story of sexual assault when that came up," Thornton said.

It's part of the reason Thornton showed up years later, when Whitmer needs her and other supporters to campaign. Thornton attended the March 27 inaugural meeting of Women for Whitmer, which aims to recruit 1,000 women to volunteer, staff phone banks and serve as surrogates for her campaign.

Back in 2013, Whitmer said it was "very hard" to come forward on that issue, which she'd kept private. She had to call her dad late that night to prepare him for what he was about to learn in the news.

Her top advisors split on whether she should share her story. At the last minute, she decided to do it. She didn't change a single vote, and at first, she felt horrible. But the next morning, she found a chorus of supporters.

"It didn't change the legislation, but I had people reaching out, people I've known for a long time who said basically "me too," right? Who said, 'that's exactly what happened to me,' and so it was empowering, and I've come to get very comfortable talking about it," Whitmer said.

"I didn't ask for it, and I'm still angry that it ever happened. But now it's part of kind of what makes me, me and what drives me to help people and what drives me to help people and be a voice and to fight to make sure that my kids don't have to say, 'me too.'"

She welcomes the culture change that's led to a national movement against sexual assault.

And in 2018, she's thankful for the women it's brought to her campaign and the energy of women who have organized national action like the Women's March and March for Our Lives. They're also, she knows, lending energy to her campaign.

"I think there's enormous power there because we talk to one another and we organize. We organize our households, we organize our politics," she said.

Fighting for democratic ideas

When Whitmer served as Senate Minority Leader from 2011 to 2015, she led a super-minority. Democrats held 12 seats while Republicans held 26. That meant almost every vote passed if enough Republicans wanted it to. With every Republican on board they could also do more complicated two-thirds votes, constitutionally required on some issues, without the support of a single Democrat.

Wielding little political clout, Whitmer didn't often get her way.

In the eight years she served in the Senate she introduced dozens of bills. Only one was signed into law - a longtime Democratic priority to restore the Earned Income Tax Credit -- but its implementation was conditional on voters passing a complicated road funding ballot proposal in 2015. That failed by a wide margin, and her bill never took effect.

Behind the scenes, she saw a little more success. She was known for having a good relationship with then-Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville. They worked together on issues like the Detroit bankruptcy, autism funding and minimum wage, Richardville said. Whitmer was key in getting the new minimum wage tied to inflation, they both say.

Other times Whitmer turned to the media, holding press conferences to call attention to bills the Republican majority wasn't taking up or railing against ones they had. For a while, Richardville said, she seemed like the loudest statewide voice of anti-Republican, progressive sentiment.

That publicity helped raise her profile but didn't help get a lot done.

"We weren't able to work very well in areas that required a lot of compromise because she made herself that voice for progressive liberalism," Richardville said.

He said her challenge is showing people not just what she's against, but what she's for.

"It's one thing to produce a solution. It's another thing to criticize a solution. So that's where her campaign would have to really be convincing is she's got plans, not just bullet points but an actual plan," Richardville said.

Whitmer's campaign has trended in that direction. She recently released a comprehensive plan to fix the roads. She's talking specifics on minimum wage -- $15 an hour -- and digging down on what exactly she thinks can improve Michigan's education system. Solutions she's proposed include more funding, holding charter schools accountable and focusing on skilled trades.

Some of those issues will be heavy lifts, ones she'd need a cooperative legislature to implement. For that, Whitmer may need to put down her progressive firebrand and reach across the aisle.

Reaching across the aisle to move forward

It's almost inevitable that, absent a Democratic wave of epic proportions, Whitmer will have to work with Republicans to accomplish policy goals if she wins the race for governor.

The basics of the partisan breakdown Whitmer faced when she led the Senate Democratic Caucus are still true today. Democrats started the year with 11 members and are down to 10 currently due to a resignation. Republicans have controlled the Senate since the 1980s.

And while Whitmer wants to boost Democrats up and down the ticket, she's realistic about the prospects of flipping the Senate.

"Even if Beyonce was running for governor I don't think she'd have coat tails big enough," she told the Women for Whitmer group in March.

She's already looking ahead to a time when she may have to bring Republicans into the fold to govern. But for a bipartisan rubric, she's also looking to her past.

Whitmer's dad worked for former Republican Gov. Bill Milliken, while her mom worked for former Democratic Attorney General Frank Kelley. She grew up in a household with mixed political views.

She went to Michigan State University with the thought of becoming a sports broadcaster. Instead, she interned with the AFL-CIO, stoking her interest in politics. After college, she worked for former House Speaker Curtis Hertel Sr. when the House operated under shared power between Republicans and Democrats.

That experience was valuable, she said, because she came into her own in an atmosphere where bipartisanship wasn't an option.

Republicans are already comparing her to Jennifer Granholm and Hillary Clinton. She stops short of calling that sexists, but said female politicians tend to face comparisons, even when unwarranted.

"I think at the end of the day people are going to be voting for not a man or a woman, but for a plan that makes their lives better," Whitmer said. "And that's what I'm putting on the table."

Whitmer faces Abdul El-Sayed and Shri Thanendar in the Democratic primary on Aug. 7. Republicans running for the governor seat include Bill Schuette, Brian Calley, Patrick Colbeck and Jim Hines.

Follow MLive.com this week as we profile candidates for Michigan's governor.