Despite calls for her to replace Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee for president in November, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer wants no part of it. But she may have warned the president that her state is now unwinnable for him.
Politico reports that Whitmer made a phone call to the Biden campaign Friday night saying that she was upset with her name being floated as a replacement for Biden, and that she had nothing to do with it.
However, Politico columnist Jonathan Martin wrote that he was alerted to the call by a national Democratic rival to Whitmer, who said the Michigan governor also called to tell the Biden camp that the debate had ruined the president’s chances in the state.
Whatever the case may be, this is not great news for Biden, except for Whitmer wishing to stay out of replacement discussions. The fact that a “Draft Gretch” movement has quickly arisen after Thursday night’s debate disaster shows that at least a segment of Democrats want to replace Biden. And if Whitmer actually called the campaign to tell them Michigan was lost, which she would have insight into as governor, that’s a key battleground state at risk in November.
Michigan was the target of a coordinated effort for voters to select an “uncommitted” option during the Democratic presidential primary elections to protest Biden’s support of Israel’s brutal war in Gaza. “Uncommitted” ended up with 13.2 percent of the vote in Michigan’s February primary and jumpstarted a national effort, with several other states with the option on their ballots registering strong showings. In total, 37 uncommitted delegates will be present at the Democratic National Convention in August, and could be a factor if confidence in Biden’s ability to defeat Donald Trump continues to drop.
Right now, Democrats and the Biden campaign are still reeling from Thursday’s debate, with calls echoing from across the Democratic Party spectrum for him to step aside or refuse to run again. While former President Barack Obama attempted to tamp down those calls with a tweet Friday afternoon, others have urged him to make a more forceful intervention. It seems that the next few weeks and months could have a crucial effect not only on November’s election but on the fate of the country at large.
