‘Great confidence’: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says Biden has her full support in reelection run

(NEW YORK) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer brushed off concerns about President Joe Biden’s age, saying the probable 2024 Democratic ticket has her “full support.”

“I don’t foresee any change in this race, and the president and vice president have my full support,” Whitmer said on ABC News’ Good Morning America on Tuesday.

In the days following Biden’s poor debate performance, Whitmer was floated by some as a potential replacement for Biden at the top of the 2024 ticket. But the governor, who won reelection in 2022, has sought to distance herself from those discussions.

She said Tuesday that she has “respect” for the conversations about Biden’s age and fitness for office, but, she said, “I think what we’ve seen from the president is an eagerness to get out and about.”

“He’s getting all across the country,” she told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. “I think he’s shown he’s got the energy and is ready to take this on.”

Those comments echoed Whitmer’s praise of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the last few days, including on Saturday when she said they’ve “delivered for the American people.”

She also touted Biden and Harris’ efforts to revive Detroit, where “we have seen a manufacturing renaissance, driven by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s investments in American workers and industry.”

She said more than 800,000 manufacturing jobs have been added since 2021, when Biden took office. 

“Companies are investing in America and especially in Michigan in a big way,” she said. “Let’s keep it going!”

Biden has been defiant in the face of calls for him to step aside as the party’s presumptive 2024 presidential nominee. On Monday, the president sent a lengthy letter to Democrats, saying he had heard concerns raised by some party officials, but that he “was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024.”

“I feel a deep obligation to the faith and the trust the voters of the Democratic Party have placed in me to run this year,” Biden wrote in the letter. “It was their decision to make.”

Whitmer, whose political memoir True Gretch was published on Tuesday, said Michigan is expected to be a pivotal state as voters head to the polls in November.

“We expect our leaders to be as good if not better and work just as hard if not harder. It’s always going to be a close race,” she said on GMA.

She added, “As I’ve told people, don’t clutch your pearls when you see in a poll we are down two points — and don’t celebrate when you are up two points. Roll up yours sleeves and do the work.”

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