‘FULL OF SH*T’: Gretchen Whitmer Denies Report Claiming She Said Biden Couldn’t Win Michigan After Debate

Jamie FreveleJul 1st, 2024, 2:34 pm
 
Gretchen Whitmer

@gretchenwhitmer on Twitter/X

A report by Politico’s Jonathan Martin included a vaguely sourced claim that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) told someone privately that President Joe Biden couldn’t win her state after his debate performance. On Monday, Whitmer said anyone who would make such a claim was “full of shit.”

In a tweet posted on Monday, along with a video in which she campaigns for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Whitmer wrote: “Anyone who claims I would say that we can’t win Michigan is full of shit. Let’s go.” She included a link to her Fight Like Hell PAC:

To drive home her support, Whitmer provided a longer statement to The Detroit News: “I am proud to support Joe Biden as our nominee and I am behind him 100% in the fight to defeat [former President] Donald Trump. Not only do I believe Joe can win Michigan, I know he can because he’s got the receipts: he’s lowered health care costs, brought back manufacturing jobs and is committed to restoring the reproductive freedom women lost under Donald Trump.”

Martin’s Politico article, also posted on Monday, did cover Whitmer dismissing calls for her to replace Biden as the Democratic candidate — a movement that came to be known as “Draft Gretch” — but also wrote about a somewhat mysterious call he received that included a dire warning for the president. Martin’s story began with Whitmer’s call to Biden campaign chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon:

She used the call to reiterate her commitment and willingness to help the president but also voiced her concern about how much more difficult the campaign would be now for Biden, I’m told by a person familiar with the call.

Even more revealing is how word of the call reached me: from someone close to a potential 2028 Whitmer rival for the Democratic presidential nomination. This person said Whitmer had phoned O’Malley Dillon with more of an unambiguous SOS: to relay that Michigan, in the wake of the debate, was no longer winnable for Biden.

That such political bladework is already taking place illustrates how badly her rivals want to wound Whitmer, by portraying her as being disloyal to Biden in his hour of need. Yet it also captures what an extraordinary, and extraordinarily precarious, moment this is for the well-stocked bench of Democratic governors who are eager to succeed Biden.

Whitmer is just one of many names being floated as possible replacements for Biden, should he decide to step aside, a scenario which is unlikely. However, Martin pointed out that “if one of them urged the president, even in private, to step aside they’d be outed and portrayed as trying to ‘take their shot,’ as one adviser to a Democratic governor put it.”

Have a tip for us? tips@mediaite.com

Tags: