Will Michigan Democratic delegates put their support behind Harris?

Vice President Kamala Harris takes the stage at the Air Zoo Aerospace & Science Museum in Portage on July 17, 2024. | Lucy Valeski

Members of Michigan’s 138-member delegation to the Democratic National Convention are deciding where to place their support now that President Joe Biden has ended his reelection campaign, instead announcing his support Sunday for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Of the nearly 4,000 delegates who will be casting a vote for their pick for president during the DNC, which commences Aug. 19, Harris would need to secure 1,986.

States with lower numbers of Democratic delegates like Tennessee and South Carolina quickly came to a consensus to put all their state’s votes towards Harris at the DNC, but Michigan, a more impactful state with 138 delegates, has not announced a united front.

Another top battleground state, Pennsylvania, dedicated its party’s 159 delegates to Harris on Monday over a conference call, according to the Erie Times-News .

Harris already has scored endorsements from high-ranking elected officials in Michigan — many of whom also are DNC delegates, like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and U.S. Sens. Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Twp.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing).

Whitmer, who had been on Biden’s shortlist for vice president in 2020 and co-chaired his reelection campaign, announced Monday that she would be backing Harris’ bid and laid to rest speculation that she’d join Harris as her vice president.

“I’m not leaving Michigan,” Whitmer said in Lansing Monday, adding in a statement, “Vice President Harris has my full support. So Michigan, let’s get to work. We cannot let Donald Trump anywhere near the White House. Let’s go!”

Other delegates interviewed by the Michigan Advance on Monday believe Harris is well-positioned.

Michigan DNC delegates will be convening this week to discuss whether to cast individual votes at the DNC or proceed as a group, David Woodward, chair of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners and a DNC delegate told the Advance.

“Michigan was always going to be a pivotal state. It is a battleground state. There’s almost no pathway to winning the presidency without winning Michigan,” Woodward said. “There has been an energy that has been unleashed in, I think, every Democratic public official [since Harris got in]. The conversations over the last many hours, people are stepping up [and asking], ‘What do we have to do? How do we get to work?’ And so I see the energy. I feel the energy.”

Biden’s Sunday announcement was very shocking to many delegates, Woodward added, as the state was ready to support Biden’s campaign.

Other elected officials amongst Michigan’s delegation that have announced their support for Harris include Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit), Michigan U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) and Michigan Lt Governor Garlin Gilchrist .

Biden stepped down because he believed it was what was best for the country when the country was at a turning point — the same way President George Washington stepped down from seeking out another term because he believed it was the best thing for a burgeoning country, Peters told reporters in Warren on Monday.

When asked about his confidence in Harris as a candidate against former President Donald Trump, Peters replied, “She’s gonna win.”

“I’ve had the opportunity of working very closely with her in the United States Senate. In fact, she was my seatmate, the two of us sat next to each other on the floor of the U.S. Senate,” Peters said, remembering Harris’ time as a U.S. senator for California. “She is a friend, but more importantly, I got to see her firsthand in the work that she did and the passion she has for this country. I think as people get to know her better,it’s going to be clear that she will be the next president of the United States.”

Peters also heads up the Democrats’ U.S. Senate campaign effort.

Democrats have built a solid foundation to secure votes for Democratic candidates and not just for president, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes said in a statement Sunday.

“I am fired up and ready to elect Vice President Harris this November as she works tirelessly to defend our democracy and defeat Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda,” Barnes said. “Kamala Harris has spent her entire career working to protect the rights and freedoms of Americans. As a prosecutor, a United States senator, and now, as the country’s first Black woman vice president, she has never backed down from a fight. In a moment where our reproductive freedom and the very basis of our democracy are on the line, Vice President Harris will lead the Democratic Party to victory this November.”

But even with Barnes’ support, that’s not a guarantee that Harris will receive the support of the whole delegation.

Biden won Michigan’s February presidential primary. However, with more than 100,000 “uncommitted” votes in the state, two of the state’s delegates are “uncommitted,” as the result of a movement of those outraged with the Biden administration’s support of Israel in its war with Hamas.

One of the uncommitted delegates, Abbas Alawieh, told Mother Jones shortly before Biden dropped out of the race that he would be evaluating Harris’ approach to the conflict.

“I am very curious to hear how Vice President Harris would differentiate her own Gaza policy from President Biden,” Alawieh told Mother Jones. “[I] hope that she differentiates her policy quickly and articulates a more humane approach that allows for us to, hopefully, save lives, and re-engage voters who feel deeply betrayed.”

The news that Biden was stepping aside and putting his support behind Harris came as the Oakland Democratic Party was having a picnic on Sunday, Sharon Baseman, a DNC delegate, told the Michigan Advance . Although there were mixed reactions and everyone was grateful for Biden’s time as president, Baseman said she is excited to support Harris and she’s confident Harris can win the battle for Michigan.

“I think we felt a little relieved that we now have a path forward, and I absolutely support Vice President Harris for president. I actually supported her in 2019 in the primaries  … full circle,” Baseman said. “I absolutely support her and I know that everyone around me was very excited when all the endorsements started coming in, and President Biden endorsed her immediately. I think everyone was happy about that.”

Susan Anderson is a DNC delegate and leader of Blue Brigade, a Democratic group in Mid-Michigan. She says she can’t speak for all the delegates, but her friends and those in her organization have a great respect for Joe Biden and are “100% behind” Harris.

“I’m an older person, and I think he was one of the best presidents of my lifetime,” Anderson said. “My members are telling me that they loved Joe Biden, and would have gladly supported Joe Biden. And now that he has dropped out of the race, we respect and admire Kamala Harris, and we will be going all full speed ahead to help her get elected.”

Advance reporter Lucy Valeski contributed to this story.

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