Former President Joe Biden was reportedly considering picking Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as his running mate, but “it had to be” Kamala Harris.
In the summer of 2020, Whitmer was being vetted to be Biden’s running mate and the governor was prepared to accept the job, but Biden ended up going another direction, The Atlantic reported. The situation demanded a “black running mate,” a former senior staffer for the governor said.
“But I think he wanted it to be Whitmer,” the staffer said.
A former senior adviser for Biden and Harris told the outlet that the assessment held “some weight.” During the heat of the 2020 presidential campaign, unrest broke out across the country following the death of George Floyd. (RELATED: CHARLIE KIRK: It’s Time To Finish Undoing The Legacy Of 2020: Get Rid Of The Floyd Monuments)
Whitmer was also facing controversy over her strict response to the COVID-19 pandemic at the time. Later in 2021, the Michigan governor had to apologize after she was caught dining maskless indoors with at least a dozen people and breaking her own precautions.
Even former First Lady Jill Biden reportedly didn’t want her husband to pick Harris. The former First Lady expressed shock at shots Harris had previously taken at Biden while on the campaign trail.
“There are millions of people in the United States. Why … do we have to choose the one who attacked Joe?” Jill was reported to have said in a 2022 book on the Biden White House.
US President Joe Biden huges Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (2R) as Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) (L), Senator Gary Petersn (D-MI) (2L), and Traverse City mayor Jim Carruthers look on after Biden arrived at Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City, Michigan on July 3, 2021. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
After Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, some Democrats were secretly hoping the governor would want to replace the former president on the ticket, according to The Atlantic.
“I wanted to take a beat and get the lay of the land,” Whitmer said. She told the outlet she did not want to run for president in 2024.
“It had to be [Harris]” who ran, Whitmer told the outlet. She added that was the case because “Joe Biden took so long to make a different decision”
Biden announced he was dropping out of the presidential race via an X post in July 2024. He was quarantining in Delaware after testing positive for COVID-19 when the announcement came.
In a separate post about 30 minutes later, Biden endorsed Harris. The former vice president revealed in her recent book on her 2024 campaign that she pushed Biden to endorse her immediately after his announcement.
“If you want to put me in the strongest position, you have to endorse me now,” Harris wrote in her book, saying that Biden had planned on endorsing her the day after.
Back in 2020, Whitmer claimed gatherings protesting her state’s COVID lockdown policies were “undermining” the response and told Axios she refused to apologize for the measures. In May that year, she faced criticism over accusations that her husband had flouted the restrictions.
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