Former President Joe Biden wanted Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as his running mate in 2020 but felt compelled to select Kamala Harris instead in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, according to a new profile of Whitmer published in The Atlantic.

The report, which profiles Whitmer as a potential 2028 presidential contender, portrays Biden as a candidate who had developed a strong personal rapport with the Michigan governor, only to find himself boxed in by the political moment.

“The moment called for a Black running mate,” a former senior Whitmer staffer told The Atlantic, adding that Biden “had to choose” Harris over Whitmer. A former adviser who worked with both Biden and Harris said that characterization carried “some weight.”

According to the report, Whitmer was among the first candidates Biden vetted in person, flying to Delaware for a face-to-face meeting in August 2020. By that point, people familiar with her thinking told The Atlantic, she had warmed to the idea — enough that she was prepared to say yes if asked.

Biden didn’t ask.

Whitmer had initially been uncertain about the prospect, the report said, struggling to envision herself as a Washington figure. But her high-profile clashes with then-President Trump during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic had drawn national attention and placed her squarely in the conversation. “All of this attention seemed like it might add up to something,” The Atlantic wrote.

Despite being passed over, Whitmer “campaigned happily” for Biden and Harris and “never wavered in her support” for Biden until he withdrew from the 2024 presidential race, according to the report.

Whitmer herself confirmed as far back as December 2020 that she had gone through the vetting process and would have accepted the role. “If Joe Biden had called and said, ‘I need you to be my partner and be my running mate,’ I would have said yes,” she told Fox 2 at the time. “This election was that important.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)