Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) said she doesn’t like seeing her name mentioned as a possible replacement for President Joe Biden should he withdraw from the presidential campaign.
During a pre-launch interview with the Associated Press, Whitmer introduced her new memoir recounting national events from her career, including a clash with former President Donald Trump and a kidnapping plot targeting her family.
In the interview, she tried to dispel recent speculation that she would step into the election if Biden were to step down.
“It’s a distraction more than anything,” she said. “I don’t like seeing my name in articles like that because I’m totally focused on governing and campaigning for the ticket.”
Since Biden’s poor debate performance last month, the governor has cropped up in several conversations about possible replacements for the president on the Democratic ticket.
In 2013, as Michigan’s Senate minority leader, Whitmer gained national attention when she abandoned her prepared remarks before a floor vote on an anti-abortion bill to share that she had been raped while in college.
She has been advocating abortion access as co-chair of the Biden campaign, asserting he supports the “right side” of the issue despite his performance in the recent debate on the question of reproductive rights.
“I think everyone has acknowledged it was not his finest 90 minutes,” she said. “That said, this is a man I’ve known for a long time and has decades of public service receipts that he’s delivered to people.”
The president has dismissed calls for him to step down, reiterating his commitment to staying in the race and proving his ability to voters.
Whitmer denied recent comments suggesting that Michigan was out of reach for Biden, attributing the spread of these remarks to a “potential future opponent’s staff person.”
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“Anyone who claims I would say that we can’t win Michigan is full of s***,” she posted on X last week.
In Michigan, the presidential race is tight, with Biden holding a 0.8-point lead on average over Trump in recent polls by the Hill/Decision Desk HQ.