Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has reportedly relayed to the Biden campaign that the president’s humiliating debate performance last Thursday cost him her state’s electoral votes — while shooting down speculation that she wanted to replace him on the 2024 Democratic ticket.
Whitmer called Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon on Friday night with an “unambiguous SOS” that the president can no longer win her state after the verbal slugfest with former President Donald Trump, a source told Politico.
In the call, she also tried to snuff out rumors that she wants to push out the oldest-ever president, the outlet reported.
The report noted the leak came from a potential rival 2028 presidential campaign, which underscores the politically precarious position in which Whitmer found herself.
“Anyone who claims I would say that we can’t win Michigan is full of s–t. Let’s go,” Whitmer’s campaign account on X clapped back Monday afternoon, sharing a link to the governor’s Fight Like Hell PAC donation webpage.
An anonymous Biden adviser told Politico that Whitmer “especially” wasn’t “ready” for primetime — along with other Democratic presidential hopefuls.
“They’d all love an easy sprint,” the adviser said of all the candidates who could try to take up their party’s mantle in the event of a contested nomination this August.
Reps for the Biden campaign declined to comment to The Post.
Whitmer, once a potential 2020 vice presidential pick for Biden, is among a group of Democratic governors — including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker — who could replace the aging commander in chief.
An unnamed Democratic governor told Politico that “the temperature is high” among that cohort, with “a lot of anxiety, a lot of folks at the edge of their seat.”
The knives-out moment is also keeping members of the group from saying anything — publicly or privately — that could be perceived as undermining Biden.
Vice President Kamala Harris immediately defended the president following his poor performance, describing it as “a slow start” and pointing, like many Biden allies on Capitol Hill, past the debate to the previous three years in office.
Other supporters of the president have harped on former President Donald Trump’s many “lies” during the CNN debate in Atlanta — and dismissed concerns about Biden’s mental slippage as being overly focused on “one terribly bad night.”
But some critics are calling for campaign contributions to PACs like Whitmer’s to gin up “momentum” for the Michigan governor’s potential 2024 candidacy, according to Politico.
“Over the next several weeks, party leaders and the press will be looking to see who has the momentum and the ability to beat Trump,” former Democratic Rep. Chet Atkins blasted out in an email to prospective donors following the debate last week.
“A massive outpouring of small and large dollar donations to Gretchen Whitmer’s political committee will send a strong and clear message,” the email reads. “It will also allow her to be ready on day one when the nomination opens up.”
Whitmer reportedly did not know the email was sent out, but will be traveling this month to San Francisco, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket to promote her new book, “True Gretch,” providing her with further opportunities to court prospective voters should she change her mind about the 2024 race.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/M5XB4JQ7IZEL3ESV5VXQRHZ55Y.jpg "Who could replace Biden as the Democratic nominee? – WPXI")
