Joe Biden personally wanted Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer as his 2020 running mate, but ultimately went with Kamala Harris because of the Black Lives Matter riots, according to a new profile published in The Atlantic.
The revelation comes from an in-depth piece on Whitmer as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, which details the behind-the-scenes dynamics of Biden’s vice-presidential vetting process.
Whitmer had risen to national prominence in 2020 for her aggressive and authoritarian response to the COVID-19 pandemic and her public clashes with President Donald Trump.
By summer 2020, Whitmer was actively being vetted for the VP spot.
Whitmer was the first finalist to meet with Biden in person in Delaware in August 2020.
Insiders said she got along well with Biden and was prepared to accept the position if offered.
A former senior staffer for Whitmer told The Atlantic, “The moment called for a black running mate,” explaining the intense pressure on Biden following the nationwide riots after the death of George Floyd.
The Atlantic reports:
All of this attention seemed like it might add up to something, and by summer 2020, Whitmer was being vetted for vice president. She wasn’t sure about it at first, people familiar with her thinking at the time told me; she struggled to imagine herself as a creature of Washington, D.C. She got along well with Biden, though, and by the time he asked her to fly to Delaware for an in-person chat, she was ready to say yes. Biden didn’t ask. The moment called for a Black running mate, the former senior staffer for Whitmer told me, so he had to choose Kamala Harris. “But I think he wanted it to be Whitmer,” this person said. Asked to confirm, a former adviser to both Biden and Harris said that the assessment carried “some weight.”
A former adviser to both Biden and Harris added that the claim Biden “wanted it to be Whitmer” carries “some weight.”
Whitmer herself confirmed in a December 2020 interview with Detroit’s FOX 2 that she would have accepted the role if Biden had asked.
“If Joe Biden had called and said, ‘I need you to be my partner and be my running mate,’ I would have said yes. This election was that important,” she stated.
Whitmer later claimed she felt a “sigh of relief” that the call never came, as she preferred to remain governor of Michigan.
Biden had publicly pledged to select a woman as his running mate. Whitmer was seen as a strong ideological and geographic fit. However, multiple outlets at the time reported that black Democratic leaders and activists urged Biden to choose a black woman, with some warning that picking Whitmer could cost him support in key states like Michigan.
Whitmer went on to campaign vigorously for the Biden-Harris ticket and continued supporting Biden through his 2024 reelection bid until he withdrew.
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