One of Biden’s key allies in Michigan endorses replacement candidate

FLINT, MI – U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee has announced that he will now support Vice President Kamala Harris in her run as the Democratic presidential candidate in 2024.

Kildee, a Democrat from Flint Township, released a statement about an hour after President Joe Biden publicly announced his withdrawal from the 2024 campaign on Sunday, July 21. Biden also endorsed Harris as his successor.

“Democrats must immediately rally around Kamala Harris to defeat Donald Trump,” Kildee’s statement said. “Kamala Harris has already been elected and earned the trust of the American people, and she has served honorably as Vice President. She is uniquely qualified to serve as President of the United States.”

Kildee said Harris “represents a new generation of leadership for our country.”

“I know she has what it takes to win in November,” the congressman said.

Among Michigan politicians, Kildee is one of Biden’s most visible supporters. When the president travels to central Michigan – a region Kildee represents in the U.S. House of Representatives – to campaign, the congressman often accompanies the president on Air Force One.

Kildee represents the 8th District seat in the Washington, DC House of Representatives. The district represents parts of Arenac, Bay, Genesee, Iosco, Midland, Saginaw and Tuscola counties.

Biden’s decision to withdraw as a candidate came after pressure from leading Democrats on him to drop out of the race increased. Following a debate on June 27, critics and allies alike said the 81-year-old president appeared frail and unfit for another term.

Kildee was not among the Democrats who openly called on Biden to withdraw from the election.

Biden announced on Sunday that he plans to finish the remainder of his term, which ends in January.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve you as President. And while I intend to run for re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country that I step down and focus solely on performing my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote in a letter posted on his account at X, formerly known as Twitter.

Almost 30 minutes later, at the party’s convention in Chicago in August, Biden expressed his support for Harris, who was immediately considered the favorite for the nomination.

“Today I want to express my full support and endorsement of Kamala as our party’s nominee this year,” he said in another post on X. “Democrats – it’s time to come together and defeat Trump.”

Biden’s announcement also comes during a presidential election cycle in which Michigan – considered a key state for securing the presidency in November – has frequently served as a target for both Biden and Trump.

Just one day earlier, on Saturday, July 20, Trump held a political rally in Grand Rapids.

Biden had visited the state eight days earlier during a rally at a high school in Detroit.

Back then, as a growing number of leading Democrats called on the president to end his candidacy for a second term, Biden’s supporters chanted, “Don’t give up.”

“I’m running, and we’re going to win,” Biden told about 2,000 people in Detroit on Friday, July 12. “Trump is a loser. I’m the nominee of this party because of you, the voters. Nobody else. And I’m not going anywhere. I learned a long time ago that when you get knocked down, you get back up.”

It was Biden’s third visit to Detroit this year and his fourth trip to Michigan.

In March, he hosted a rally in one of the counties Kildee represents: Saginaw County, which some political experts consider a “swing county in a swing state.”