(The Center Square) – Amidst President Joe Biden’s letter to Democrats in Congress refusing to step aside, a third visit to Detroit this year is planned for Friday.
As Congress reconvenes this week, there’s a watch for Democrats’ relationship to the Biden team. One Senate and 13 House seats from the state are on the November ballot, and it appears no prominent Michigan politicians have called for Biden to step down from the race.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer herself has advocated for the president almost daily on Twitter and in media interviews, saying she wouldn’t run as his replacement even if he willingly stepped down.
She’s called it a distraction in published reports.
Biden’s trip to Detroit on Friday will be his fourth visit to Michigan this year, a high number for a campaign with notably few appearances, and comes a week to the day since he was in Wisconsin. He was in the Motor City in February three weeks before the primary and again on May 19, and in Saginaw County on March 14.
Four years ago, Biden beat Trump by 3%, swinging the state leftward from 2016. Earlier this month, First Lady Jill Biden and California Gov. Gavin Newsom took Fourth of July trips to the Great Lakes State.
“Joe Biden is our president,” Newsom said during a speech in South Haven. “He said he’s all in. I doubled down, said I’m all in. And not only that, I’m here with you to prove it.”
The Democratic National Convention happening in Chicago at the start of Aug. 19-22, making time paramount. Even if Biden were to step down from the race after the nominating convention, the deadline for some states printing mail-in ballots is close, including in Michigan.
Biden’s letter to Congress urges Democrats to fight against “weakening of resolve.”
