Former US President Joe Biden preferred Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to be his running mate in the 2020 election, but in the end he “had to choose” Kamala Harris, according to a report by The Atlantic.The profile was published on Sunday and focused on Whitmer as a potential 2028 presidential contender. It claimed that Biden “wanted Whitmer” after he was impressed by her response to President Donald Trump during his first term. However, the political climate following the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests following the death of George Floyd played a major role in the final decision. George Floyd, a black man, was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, sparking global protests against racism and police brutality.“It seemed like all this attention might add up, and by the summer of 2020, Whitmer was being vetted for vice president,” the report said.He added: “She wasn’t sure about it at first, people familiar with her thinking at the time told me; she was struggling to imagine herself as a creature of Washington, D.C. However, she got on well with Biden, and by the time he asked her to travel to Delaware for a personal conversation, she was ready to say yes.”
Biden didn’t ask.The report also cited a former senior Whitmer staffer who said, “The moment called for a Black vice presidential nominee,” suggesting that Biden’s eventual choice of Harris was influenced by other political considerations. A former adviser to both Biden and Harris was also quoted as saying that the allegation carries “some weight.”Despite not being selected, Whitmer continued to support the Biden campaign and later confirmed that she had gone through the vetting process.“If Joe Biden had called and said, ‘I want you to be my partner and be my running mate,’ I would have said yes,” Whitmer told Fox 2. “This election was so important,” she added.The report also said that Whitmer was the first potential nominee to meet Biden in person during the vice presidential selection process in August 2020.Harris also said she had avoided pushing Biden to step down earlier because she did not want to appear “self-serving,” adding that she had remained loyal during a period of heightened political pressure.Biden ultimately chose Harris as his running mate in 2020, and she became his running mate. She later replaced him as the Democratic Party’s nominee in 2024 after Biden dropped out of the race, before losing the election to MAGA leader Donald Trump.
