Biden says Whitmer still in contention for VP pick

Former Vice President Joe Biden said he is still considering Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) to be his running mate as he sifts through a field of several women for his No. 2 pick.

“Incredibly and yes,” Biden told Wood TV Tuesday when asked how important Michigan is in the presidential race and if Whitmer was still in contention for the vice presidential nomination.

The remarks confirming Whitmer is still in the running to be Biden’s running mate come as focus has been thrust more sharply on Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D), former national security adviser Susan Rice and more. 

Biden has already vowed to select a woman as his running mate, though he’s come under increased pressure to pick a woman of color in light of the current national reckoning over systemic racism that was sparked by the killing of George Floyd in May. 

Proponents of picking Whitmer have suggested she can boost Biden’s chances of winning Michigan, a key swing state that President Trump narrowly won in 2016. However, some Democrats have warned that picking another centrist could risk alienating the party’s progressive flank. 

Biden noted Michigan’s importance in the 2020 race, calling it “the key.”

“Michigan is a state that is incredibly important,” he said. “My case is to the people of Michigan that I think if they take a look at what’s at stake here in this election, it’s been even more clear with this pandemic and national reckoning on race, we can’t afford four more years of Donald Trump. And so Michigan is critical, critical, critical for me to be able to win.”