Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer traveled to Delaware last weekend for a private meeting with former vice president and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, two Democratic officials confirmed to NBC News.
News of the meeting was reported earlier Friday by The Associated Press, who said the meeting was Biden’s first known personal session with a potential running mate.
The meeting lasted several hours, one of the two Democratic officials who confirmed the meeting said.
Biden had said he planned to make an announcement the first week in August, but assistants later said this was unlikely. Whitmer declined to comment when asked about the meeting.
On Thursday, NBC News reported that Whitmer was among those still under serious consideration.
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Democrats with knowledge of the process have said Whitmer recently did not re-emerge as a potential vice presidential candidate, but long remained in Biden’s top tier.
Public speculation about a possible pick is also central to Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla, with sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Also in the run.
Michigan is a fighting state, and President Donald Trump narrowly won it in the 2016 election by about 10,700 votes.
Whitmer has earned the respect of Biden officials for their role in responding to the coronavirus pandemic – sometimes in the face of protests surrounding demonstrations outside the state capital building in which some Protestants were armed, and a tweet of Trump reading “Liberate Michigan”! “in capital letters.
She raised her public profile earlier this year by fighting with Trump over the federal response to the pandemic.
Officials from the Biden campaign have made it clear in recent days that they believe the COVID-19 pandemic combined with Trump’s crisis management and the resulting economic fallout is the central issue of the autumn campaign.
Phil Helsel contributed.
