Whitmer stumps for Harris in northeast US

In the wake of a major shake-up in the 2024 election, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer hit the campaign trail to stump for Vice President Kamala Harris, the new presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

With about 100 days until the Nov. 5 election, Harris has an opportunity to reintroduce herself as a presidential candidate to the country after she ended her 2020 campaign before the Iowa caucuses that year. Whitmer addressed voters at a brewery in New Hampshire Thursday. And she will visit Pennsylvania on Monday, according to multiple reports.

Whitmer gave her support to Harris after President Joe Biden endorsed his Vice President to replace him at the top of the ticket to take on former President Donald Trump.

"She's a former prosecutor, a champion for reproductive freedom, and I know that she's got Michigan's back," Whitmer said of Harris in a statement earlier this week. Whitmer serves as a co-chair of Harris' campaign.

While Harris has amassed the support of enough Democratic delegates to secure her party's nomination, she hasn't decided who she will pick as her running mate. Whitmer has pushed back on speculation she's a top contender for the role, saying she has no plans to leave the state and intends to finish out her current term in office which ends in 2027.

But Whitmer has said the voters in the U.S. could embrace a two-woman ticket even if she's not on it during a podcast interview. She reiterated the sentiment in New Hampshire, telling voters there that Harris "should be bold" in selecting her Vice President and said a two-women ticket or a ticket with two people of color would be "exciting," according to Seacostonline.

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Whitmer travels around the country promoting Harris' last-minute presidential campaign at a time when her own national star has risen. Whitmer's book — "True Gretch" — has given the Michigan governor an opportunity to introduce herself to a national audience. It found its way among the top three best-selling books on the New York Times list for combined print and e-book nonfiction earlier this week.

Back in her home state, Whitmer has repeatedly described the presidential election as a tight race to win the Michigan vote.

Biden defeated Trump in 2020 by more than 154,000 votes or nearly three percentage points in Michigan. Four years earlier, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lost to Trump in Michigan by about 11,000 votes, a little less than a quarter of a percentage point. It was the tightest margin of victory for Trump of any state that year and marked the first time Michigan backed a Republican presidential candidate since 1988.

Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Whitmer campaigns nationally for Harris