You’ll Never Guess Who Joe Biden Reportedly Wanted as His Vice President Instead of Kamala Harris

If you ask Democratic party insiders, they’ll tell you that former President Joe Biden made the bold and best choice when he tapped former Vice President Kamala Harris to be his running mate in 2020. However, a new report claims Harris wasn’t always at the top of Biden’s list, and you might be surprised to find out who his first choice was.

First, let’s go back to 2019.

Then-presidential candidate Joe Biden was poised to face Republican incumbent Donald Trump in the general election. To pull off a win against the MAGA leader, Biden had to make one of the most important decisions of his political career – naming his running mate.

He promised he’d pick a woman or person of color as VP in March of that year, and quickly, all eyes turned to Harris– one of the obvious choices.

She’d already battled Biden in presidential debates and could clearly hold her own as a Senator and California politician. The added backdrop of the 2020 racial reckoning also helped to propel her voice forward in ways we’ve never seen before.

We previously told you that the killing of several Black men and women resulted in one of the largest waves of political and social reform in America. Although short-lived, 2020 promised hope and change for Black Americans who were still denied equality. So when Biden finally tapped Harris to run beside him, everything just made sense.

Harris would go on to make history as the first woman vice president, first Black vice president and first Asian American VP all at the same time. But according to a report from The Atlantic, Biden was very close to naming another notable female politician on his presidential ticket.

Known playfully as “Big Gretch,” Mich. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was high on Biden’s running mate list, a source told the outlet. In fact, it’s her fierce reputation for going up against Trump that really caught Biden’s eye.

Whitmer was reportedly being vetted for the vice president job by summer 2020. Biden even asked her to fly to his home in Delaware to speak in person, according to The Atlantic. The governor was ready to say yes if asked to join the ticket, but he never did. Instead, the Atlantic reported that Biden made a different bold choice in selecting Harris because “the moment called for a Black running mate,” according to a former Whitmer senior staffer.

“But I think he wanted it to be Whitmer,” the source added. Biden has not confirmed whether the report is true, but given the governor’s history of standing up to Trump, along with her solid approval ratings in Michigan, Whitmer was certainly a force to be reckoned with.

In fact, The Root even named her as a potential running mate for former Vice President Harris after Biden dropped out of the 2024 race. Before then, Whitmer was among the names whispered to replace Biden at the top of the ticket. But sources have argued Harris was the only option. Although her 100-day campaign against Trump ended in a loss, it’s unclear whether any other Democrat could’ve pulled off what she did in such a short amount of time.

Whitmer has remained a supporter of both Biden and Harris over the years, although she was a tad late to endorsing Harris. When asked why she waited more than 24 hours to endorse the Black woman, she told The Atlantic she “wanted to take a beat and get the lay of the land.” According to her, the Democratic nomination “had to be” Harris because “Joe Biden took so long to make a different decision.”