Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has warned that President Joe Biden ’s chances of winning the state are now over following his dismal debate performance last week.
Biden had hoped to silence critics who have questioned his age and mental sharpness when he took on Donald Trump on stage during the first televised debate of the 2024 election on Thursday evening.
But instead of putting concerns to rest, the 81-year-old reinforced the stereotype with a bumbling, stumbling performance that is said to have left members of his party divided on whether he is the right candidate to run for the White House.
Despite burgeoning support for Whitmer to potentially take the Democrat’s ticket for presidential candidate, the former senator was quick to quash the notion she would run for office and deny that she was behind the growing push.
Sources with knowledge of the matter, who remain anonymous, told Politico that, in a call between Whitmer and Biden campaign chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, the Democrat expressed her growing frustrations and said she “hated” being named as a potential Biden replacement.
In the call, Whitmer doubled down on her support for Biden’s re-election campaign.
But despite her loyalty, another source said that Whitmer gave Biden a damning warning: that her state is “no longer winnable” for the president due to his debate performance.
As a swing state, Michigan has played a crucial role in determining the outcome of the past two presidential elections and could prove vital for Biden as he seeks a second term.
The state flipped blue in 2020 and Whitmer then sailed to a second term in 2022, scoring a 10-point victory over her Republican rival.
Biden’s loss of the state to presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump this November would be a devastating blow for Democrats.
While the lawmaker seemingly rejected that she’d take on the sitting president, her former aide Mark Burton told The Telegraph that he thinks she believes she could beat Trump, if the pair were to thrash it out for the Oval Office.
While Whitmer garners support, Vice President Kamala Harris remains the most popular choice to replace Biden if he drops out of the race, according to a recent Date for Progress poll. Taking an average of recent polls, Trump would lead Harris by six points in a race for office.
If Biden doesn’t step down, there are two ways he could be replaced ahead of November’s election.
Democrats could invoke the 25th Amendment and try to replace Biden with Harris. Or delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago could revolt and vote for somebody other than Biden on the floor in August.
Whitmer’s continued support for Biden has been mirrored by other prominent Democrats including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and former House majority whip James Clyburn.
But other party members have been more scathing in their criticism towards Biden.
Minnesota’s Democrat congressman Dean Phillips delivered a scathing nine-word X post seemingly aimed at Biden last week. “Speak only if it improves upon the silence – Gandhi,” he wrote on X.
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