Top Michigan Dems back Kamala Harris for president. Could Gretchen Whitmer be VP?

• Top Michigan Democrats endorsed Kamala Harris for president on Sunday after Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid and backed Harris
• Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been a regular name on replacement wish lists, could have a path to VP nomination
• Democrats will decide ticket at August convention in Chicago

July 22: Gretchen Whitmer knocks down VP talk: ‘I’m not leaving Michigan’

Top Michigan Democrats endorsed Kamala Harris for president on Sunday after Joe Biden left the race and backed his vice president, a major development that could redefine the race against Republican nominee Donald Trump. 

While Harris’ nomination is not yet a sure thing, speculation immediately turned to who she might pick as a running mate. One popular name: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who some Democrats have also floated as a possible presidential nominee herself.

Shortly after ending his reelection campaign, Biden backed Harris, the former U.S. Senator and attorney general from California who is the country’s first female vice president and the first woman of color to hold the role. 

Related: Joe Biden drops out of presidential race: What it means for Michigan

While Democratic delegates will formally pick their presidential nominee at a convention slated to start Aug. 19 in Chicago, experts say Biden’s endorsement of Harris, her position and recent track record of campaigning in swing states on issues like abortion rights make her the clear frontrunner.

Many other prominent Democrats joined Biden in backing Harris, including Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes, U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, and most of Michigan's Democratic delegation in the U.S. House, including Reps. Hillary Scholten of Grand Rapids, Dan Kildee of Flint Township, Debbie Dingell of Ann Arbor, Elissa Slotkin of Holly and Haley Stevens of Birmingham. 

Stevens said Sunday she looks forward to “making (Harris) the first woman president of our great nation.”

Harris, who campaigned in Michigan on Wednesday, said in a statement that she is "honored" to have Biden's endorsement but intends to "earn and win this nomination." She added: "We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win."

A Harris-Whitmer ticket?

As Democrats began to coalesce around Harris on Sunday evening, speculation turned to who she might select as her running mate. 

One prominent name in the mix is Whitmer, a national co-chair of Biden’s re-election campaign who Biden seriously considered as a potential running mate in 2020 before picking Harris. 

The Michigan governor has gained a national profile in recent years due to her electoral success in a battleground state, her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and a new memoir that reads like someone with higher aspirations.

Whitmer has repeatedly vowed to complete her second term, which ends in 2026, and has said she has no desire to be a last-minute presidential replacement. 

A Whitmer spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story. 

But in a statement following Biden’s announcement, Whitmer said her job in this fall’s election “will remain the same: doing everything I can to elect Democrats and stop Donald Trump, a convicted felon whose agenda of raising families’ costs, banning abortion nationwide, and abusing the power of the White House to settle his own scores is completely wrong for Michigan.”

Though she’s far from the only name in the mix, Whitmer has already gotten some initial support as a potential vice presidential nominee: USA Today opinion columnist Chris Brennan this weekend lauded the merits of a potential Harris-Whitmer ticket.

“Then Democrats should hype the hell out of a historic ticket of two women in their 50s while turning the tables on Trump, a 78-year-old known for slurring his words during rallies and wandering off on weird rhetorical tangents about sharks, Hannibal Lecter and other things that clearly frighten him,” Brennan wrote.

Unlike other high-profile Democratic governors, including Gavin Newsom of California and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Whitmer had not explicitly endorsed Harris as of 9 p.m. Sunday.  

Michigan observers weren’t sure whether Whitmer would get the nod but suggested no one should count her out just yet. 

“She is one of the more popular governors in America,” Jim Blanchard, Democratic governor of Michigan from 1983 until 1991, told Bridge Michigan on Sunday. “Gretchen (Whitmer) has a great reputation nationwide that could lead to an office higher than governor.”

Republicans have already begun to criticize Whitmer. 

In a Saturday night rally in Grand Rapids, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance called Whitmer "a problem." 

Trump, at the same rally, called Whitmer “terrible” and said he’d “like to run against her” if she became the Democratic presidential nominee instead of Harris. 

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist defended Whitmer in a statement released by her political action committee: “If Donald Trump wants to talk about records, let’s do it,” he said. 

“Governor Whitmer has a record of bringing back manufacturing jobs, cutting taxes for working families and seniors, and taking politically motivated, medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion off the books to help Michigan women get the care they need.”

An open convention 

Biden’s decision to drop out comes after mounting pressure from Democrats and marks a historic shakeup in presidential politics, coming mere weeks before the Democratic National Committee’s August convention in Chicago and four months before the November general election.

An open convention hasn’t occurred since 1968, and it didn’t end well for Democrats in that election: Republican Richard Nixon beat eventual Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey by more than 100 electoral votes.

Because nearly all Democratic delegates tasked with selecting the presidential nominee at the party’s August convention in Chicago were previously pledged to Biden, Harris’ path to the nomination isn’t cut and dry, though early reports indicate other high-profile Democrats are standing aside to prevent a contentious convention fight.

Any candidate must win an open floor vote to secure the nomination and secure at least 1,976 of the 3,937 newly-freed delegates. 

In a statement, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said the party will “undertake a transparent and orderly process to move forward” as delegates prepare to select new candidates for president and vice president. 

Harris locks in early Michigan, national endorsements

At least five members of Michigan’s Democratic congressional delegation endorsed Harris shortly after Biden did so, as did Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate of Detroit and other state lawmakers. 

Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, said Sunday that she cried when she heard the news that Biden was ending his reelection campaign, telling Bridge she believed many aspects of how the situation was handled are “not the way that it should have happened or what was deserved.” 

Biden has faced mounting pressure from fellow Democrats to leave the race since a disastrous June 27 debate against Trump.

Now that Biden’s decision has been made, Dingell said she believes Harris is best suited to take his place.  

Thanedar, D-Detroit, said it would be “unfair to deny” Harris the opportunity to replace Biden when she’s served as his vice president and has spent months campaigning for the presidential ticket. 

“When the top of the ticket has stepped down, she should naturally have the opportunity to step up,” Thanedar told Bridge. “To say, ‘Oh, let her throw her hat in the ring with everybody else, and let’s decide,’ would be unfair to her."

A host of officials at the state and federal level have emerged as options for either a presidential or vice presidential bid, though the speculation has largely turned to the vice presidency after Biden’s endorsement of Harris. 

In addition to Whitmer, other Democratic governors in the mix include California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. 

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, now a Michigan resident, previously ran for the presidency before joining Biden’s administration and has also been noted as a potential running mate. 

Should Whitmer decide to actively pursue or take on a vice presidential bid, she could continue to serve as governor, as there’s no rule that prevents politicians from running for office while holding another. She’d only have to resign her post if she won a different office. 

Adrian Hemond, CEO of the Lansing-based consulting firm Grassroots Midwest, told Bridge Michigan he doubted Whitmer would seek any federal position considering “first and foremost, she’s said repeatedly that she doesn’t want to be the nominee.” 

“She has far more lucrative opportunities in front of her than being vice president of the United States — assuming (Democrats) are able to find a win,” Hemond said.