Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer downplayed vice presidential speculation but confirmed that she has spoken with Joe Biden’s team about being his running mate.
Whitmer brushed aside the acknowledgment that she has been in contact with the campaign and said her main focus is pulling Michigan out of the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen more than 50,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and almost 5,000 deaths.
“I’ve had a conversation with some folks,” Whitmer said Tuesday morning on the Today show. “But the fact of the matter is all of my energy is going to helping my state through this crisis unlike one that we’ve seen in 100 years in this country.”
“We have to get it right, and I was elected to be the governor of the state of Michigan. And it is the honor of a lifetime, and that’s where I’m spending 100% of my energy and focus. We’ve got a crisis like nothing we’ve ever seen before.”
When she was again pressed to characterize the “conversation” she had with the Biden campaign, Whitmer said it was “just an opening conversation, and it’s not something that I would call a professional, formalized vetting.”
“I am making a little bit of time to stay connected to the campaign, but the most important thing that I have to do right now is be the governor,” she added.
Whitmer was criticized when she instituted an expanded executive order that banned visits to other residences and the sale of certain nonessential goods during the early phases of the coronavirus pandemic. She has faced protests and death threats since the start of the health crisis.
