Gretchen Whitmer and Glenn Youngkin will open and close this year’s Tribune Festival

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

We’ve got even more big news to share about this year’s TribFest.

Two of the nation’s most accomplished and buzzed-about governors — Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer and Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin — will open and close this year’s festival. They’ll reflect on their careers and successes at the helm and provide perspective on one of the most unpredictable election cycles in American history.

Whitmer sits down with Texas Tribune co-founder Evan Smith at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5 at the Paramount Theatre to discuss her new memoir, her key victories in Michigan and the importance of every vote.

Published this summer, “True Gretch: What I've Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between” delves into the rising Democratic star’s career, as a lawyer and legislator to her 2018 election as governor, and the actions she’s taken to lead the state through a series of unprecedented crises. The governor has signed over 1,250 bipartisan bills and five balanced budgets and touts Michigan as one of America’s best states to do business by lowering the cost of job training and higher education, cutting red tape for permitting and redevelopment, and competing with other states and nations.

We close out TribFest with Youngkin in conversation with Smith, at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7 at the Paramount. We’ll discuss the governor’s record in the commonwealth, the state of the Republican Party and a conservative policy agenda for America.

As governor, Youngkin has ushered in investments in education, facilitated economic investments and business expansions to reinvigorate job growth and opportunity, and delivered $5 billion in tax relief for Virginians. He launched efforts to transform Virginia’s behavioral health system, worked to revamp the state’s child care system and developed Virginia’s “All-American, All-of-the-Above” energy approach.

Whitmer and Youngkin bookend one of the strongest TribFest programs ever, with a who’s who of national policymakers, journalists, thought leaders and changemakers. We also look closer to home, with dozens of important conversations on Texas politics, policy and solutions to the issues facing our communities.

#TribFest24 is almost here. Buy your tickets now and be part of the conversation.

---

The full program is now LIVE for the 2024 Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Explore the program featuring more than 100 unforgettable conversations on topics covering education, the economy, Texas and national politics, criminal justice, the border, the 2024 elections and so much more. See the full program.