Lansing — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Monday she supports President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee “100%” and believes he can win Michigan in November against Republican Donald Trump.
Whitmer, who’s considered a rising star among Democrats and who serves as co-chairwoman of Biden’s reelection campaign, issued a statement after the national news outlet Politico suggested she possibly had said that Michigan “was no longer winnable for Biden” after he made a number of missteps in a debate Thursday night against Trump.
A Whitmer aide, on the condition that they not be identified, said the comment, which was sourced by Politico to “someone close to a potential 2028 Whitmer rival,” was false.
“I am proud to support Joe Biden as our nominee and I am behind him 100% in the fight to defeat Donald Trump,” Whitmer said in a statement Monday. “Not only do I believe Joe can win Michigan, I know he can because he’s got the receipts: he’s lowered health care costs, brought back manufacturing jobs and is committed to restoring the reproductive freedom women lost under Donald Trump.”
The president’s lackluster performance at his first debate against Trump of the 2024 campaign has spurred some political pundits and The New York Times editorial board to urge Biden, who’s 81 years old, to step aside.
They’ve floated Whitmer and others, including Vice President Kamala Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, as potential replacements for Biden if the nomination were somehow put up for grabs at the party’s convention in August.
However, Biden has shown no signs that he’s seriously contemplating getting out of the race.
One top Michigan Democrat who has spoken with Whitmer in recent days said Monday the governor has been trying to tamp down a push by donors for her to consider entering the race.
This Democratic leader, who spoke to The Detroit News on condition of anonymity, said Whitmer is so locked in to supporting the Biden-Harris ticket that she won’t entertain the question of replacing Biden on the ticket should the president step aside, frustrating some donors and others.
Those donors are concerned that, unlike Newsom, Whitmer does not have a plan in place ahead of the Aug. 19-22 Democratic National Convention in Chicago to court delegates to vote for her in balloting there, the source said. But that lack of preparation, the source said, is another indicator that she doesn’t want to make the move.
In 2020, Biden defeated Trump, the incumbent president at the time, winning Michigan by 3 percentage points, 51%-48%.
In a campaign speech in North Carolina on Friday, Biden vowed that he can do the job of president for another four years. The crowd repeatedly chanted “four more years.”
Whitmer is a former state lawmaker and second-term governor. She gained national prominence while clashing with Trump over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
She has repeatedly said that she expects the race between Biden and Trump in Michigan to be close this fall.
Whitmer has previously vowed to complete her four-year term as governor. She has a book set to be published on July 9 titled “TRUE GRETCH: What I’ve Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between” that has already included a new blitz of national media attention for her.
Biden considered Whitmer, among others, to be his running mate in 2020 before picking Harris. On the campaign trail in Michigan, the president has referred to Whitmer as the best governor in the country.
cmauger@detroitnews.com
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