DURHAM, N.H. - Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says it is hard to "seriously" take Republican criticism of Vice President Kamala Harris' replacement of President Biden as the Democrats' 2024 presidential nominee.
"It is hard to take the Republican criticism seriously because one day it’s ‘Joe Biden shouldn’t be running.’ The next day it’s ‘well he should be running.’ Give me a break," Whitmer said when asked by Fox News about the GOP criticism.
The president, in a blockbuster announcement Sunday, ended his 2024 re-election rematch with former President Trump and endorsed his vice president. Biden made his move amid mounting pressure from within the Democratic Party for him to drop out after a disastrous performance in last month's first presidential debate with Trump.
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The embattled president's immediate backing of Harris ignited a surge of endorsements of Harris by Democratic governors, senators, House members and other party leaders. By Monday night, the vice president announced that she had locked up her party's nomination by landing the backing of a majority of the nearly 4,000 delegates to next month's Democratic National Convention. On Friday, former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama became the final major party leaders to endorse the vice president.
Harris has also hauled in a staggering $129 million in fundraising since Biden's announcement, her campaign touted on Thursday morning.
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Republicans charge that the process has been anything but democratic - and they point to Biden's own words.
Before dropping out, the president had repeatedly cited the 14 million votes he won in this year's Democratic presidential primaries as a reason he should stay in the 2024 race.
"The voters – and the voters alone – decide the nominee of the Democratic Party," he emphasized in a letter on July 8. "Not the press, not the pundits, not the big donors, not any selected group of individuals, no matter how well intentioned."
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Wednesday called the switch at the top of the Democrats' national ticket "an undemocratic move."
"These are nasty people, the Democrats," Trump argued.
Additionally, Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton claimed in a social media post this week that "Joe Biden succumbed to a coup by Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, and Hollywood donors, ignoring millions of Democratic primary votes."
Whitmer, speaking with Fox News at her third and final campaign event Thursday in swing state New Hampshire on behalf of Harris, acknowledged that Biden's announcement "was a surprise to me. I was co-chair."
"But by the same token, I think it was the right decision and that’s why we have a vice president. Kamala Harris has been his number two for four years. No one should be surprised that he steps away, that she’s the one to step into the breach," the governor emphasized.
Whitmer's name has repeatedly come up this week - among other high profile Democratic Party leaders - as a potential running mate for Harris.
However, the governor reiterated "I am not a part of the process. I made it very clear that I am committed to fulfilling my term as governor in Michigan, and so I’m not going anywhere. I think I can be an even better ally to a Harris administration on the ground in Michigan."
Whitmer, though, did say that America is ready for two women on a national ticket.
"Of course, America can have two women on a national ticket. We’ve had two men since the dawn of time. Women can lead as we’ve shown in many states where you’ve had great women leaders," she emphasized. "Women know how to get things done. So two women would be better than one."
Whitmer, to cheers from the crowd of a couple of hundred party activists at her final stop of the day, highlighted that she "was grateful and honored to be a co-chair of the Biden campaign. I am similarly grateful and honored to be a co-chair of the Harris campaign."
No Republican has carried New Hampshire in a presidential election in 24 years, but recent polling suggested a margin-of-error contest between Biden and Trump.
However, two new public opinion surveys in the state released on Thursday indicated Harris holding single-digit leads over Trump.
Billy Shaheen, one of New Hampshire's two members on the Democratic National Committee and the husband of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, touted to Fox News that it was "a phenomenal crowd. They are pumped. And you know what wins elections? Passion. Passion wins elections. This crowd is passionate."
John Tackeff, a longtime Democratic Party activist in New Hampshire and former strategist, said that "friends of mine who are not politically involved at all have been asking me the past couple of days how to get involved…it's truly shocking to see the moment in the past couples of days."
However, New Hampshire GOP chair Chris Ager sees it a different way when it comes to Harris.
"Democrat party elites and corporate money have coronated the most extreme left-wing US Senator as their nominee, without voter vetting. After the honeymoon period, voters will once again reject her hard-core leftist agenda," he said in a statement to Fox News.
