Trump won’t call her but she’s on Biden’s VP list. What to know about Gretchen Whitmer
During an interview this week on MSNBC, former Vice President Joe Biden said he’s considering Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as a potential running mate.
The governor has made headlines in recent weeks as she’s criticized the Trump administration for its response to the coronavirus epidemic.
Here are four things to know about Whitmer:
Feud with the president
Whitmer, 48, has been outspoken in her criticism of President Donald Trump and his administration over the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the weekend, the president said Whitmer was in “way over her head” and “doesn’t have a clue” about how to handle the coronavirus, according to the Associated Press.
“Two days earlier, Trump said publicly that he had instructed Vice President Mike Pence, the leader of the White House’s pandemic response, not to call ‘the woman in Michigan,’” the AP reported.
Responding on Twitter, Whitmer said, “Hi, my name is Gretchen Whitmer, and that governor is me.”
“I’ve asked repeatedly and respectfully for help. We need it. No more political attacks, just PPEs, ventilators, N95 masks, test kits. You said you stand with Michigan — prove it,” she said, adding that she gets along well with Vice President Mike Pence.
Republican allies of Trump have tried to calm the back-and-forth with the governor of an important swing state in November’s election, the AP reports. Michigan is one of the three swing states then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton narrowly lost in the 2016 election that put Trump in the White House.
Michigan native
Whitmer has been in Michigan politics for two decades, according to her official biography. In 2000, she was elected to the state House of Representatives. In 2006 she won a seat on the Michigan State Senate.
The Democrat won every county in the state’s gubernatorial primary in 2018 and then earned 53 percent of the vote in the general election. She flipped the governorship in Michigan back to Democratic control, beating the Republican state Attorney General Bill Schuette.
She is less than half way through her first term as governor.
“Whitmer earned a bachelor’s degree and law degree from Michigan State University,” according to her biography.
What Biden said
Speaking to MSNBC’s Brian Williams this week, Biden said, “She made the list in my mind two months ago. There’s probably going to be a list, I’m in the process of — Brian, we’ll have it by mid-April, putting together an organization that will run the background checks.”
He said he expects to have a short list “by the second or third week in April.”
“I’ve thought about some of the women who I believe are ready to be president and I think I can work with and would be willing to work with me. It’s going to be somewhere between six and 10 of them,” Biden said.
The former vice president has long said he will pick a woman as his running mate.
After Trump criticized Whitmer on Fox News, Biden released a statement: “Facing a dangerous abdication of leadership from Donald Trump during this pandemic, Governor Gretchen Whitmer has been a tenacious fighter for Michigan families,” according to the Michigan Advance.
“States like Michigan need more help from this administration. They can’t go it alone, and they need help now. Instead of delivering cheap shots on Fox News, it’s time for Donald Trump to deliver Michigan and other states more ventilators, masks and other personal protective equipment, and test kits,” Biden said, according to the Michigan Advance.
Swing state
President Trump won Michigan by about 10,000 votes in 2016, an incredibly narrow margin in a state where 5 million votes were cast in that election. Democrats had won the presidential election in the state starting with Bill Clinton through Barack Obama’s re-election, according to the election site 270 to Win.
Recent polls have shown both Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, still vying for the party’s nomination, ahead of Trump in Michigan, according to poll tracking site FiveThirtyEight.
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 11:59 AM with the headline "Trump won’t call her but she’s on Biden’s VP list. What to know about Gretchen Whitmer."
