During the 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden is reported to have favored Gretchen Whitmer as his running mate but ultimately selected Kamala Harris amid The Atlantic reported that Whitmer went through vetting in the summer of 2020 and stood ready to take the job. Biden went in another direction.
The decision came at a time of nationwide unrest following the death of George Floyd, when demands for greater racial representation within the Democratic Party were at the forefront.
A former senior staffer for Whitmer said the situation at the time demanded a Black running mate.
“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 staffer’s assessment held some weight.
Whitmer Dealt With COVID-19 Backlash During 2020
Unrest broke out across the country following the death of George Floyd. This happened during the heat of the 2020 presidential campaign. Whitmer faced her own controversy over her strict response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan.
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She claimed gatherings protesting her state’s lockdown policies were undermining the response. She 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.
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.
Jill Biden Did Not Support Picking Harris
Even former First Lady Jill Biden reportedly did not 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.
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“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.
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. Harris wrote in her book on the 2024 campaign that she urged Biden to endorse her right away. She said Biden had planned to endorse her the day after.
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. Whitmer said she wanted to take a beat and get the lay of the land.
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.”
