Deadline Detroit | Former Michigan Democratic Party chairman calls Whitmer’s replacement for Biden a ‘fantasy’

Following President Joe Biden’s shaky performance at Thursday night’s debate, speculation has renewed that he could be replaced by someone like Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in the November election.

But former Michigan Democratic Party chairman Mark Brewer told the Detroit Free Press that 52-year-old Whitmer was extremely unlikely to intervene.

“I think this is a fantasy. It’s incredibly far-fetched,” he said.

Other names of Biden successors that have emerged include California Governor Gavin Newsom, 56, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, 51.

Whitmer has repeatedly stated that she has no interest in 2024 and is helping 81-year-old Biden win re-election.

On Friday, Helen Hare – a spokeswoman for the Whitmer PAC, which supports the president’s re-election campaign – responded in an email to the Free Press: “Joe Biden is our nominee and the governor is proud to support him.”

The campaign team probably has two options: either get Biden to resign sooner rather than later, or double down and appear as often as possible on the campaign trail and on television to try to prove that Thursday’s debate was just a minor incident on the road to re-election.

On Friday, Biden appeared in Raleigh, North Carolina, and, appearing fully energized and far more eloquent than he had been on Thursday, told the crowd:

“Folks, I don’t walk as casually as I used to. I don’t speak as fluently as I used to. I can’t debate as well as I used to, but… I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong, and I know how to do this job. I know, like millions of Americans, that when you get knocked down, you get back up.”