Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate list is rumored to include Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, but one police union leader said Whitmer’s record in law enforcement has been largely “moderate.”
Whitmer, who has worked her way up the political ranks and is in her second term as governor, would bring her legal experience to the table if paired with Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Crime has been a serious problem in parts of Governor Whitmer’s state, with Detroit recently being named one of the top five most dangerous cities in the U.S. Governor Whitmer has faced criticism for a controversial program to help immigrants after an undocumented immigrant was charged with murdering a woman in Grand Rapids.
“Gretchen Whitmer is enabling Joe Biden’s open border policies by handing out cash to those who take in unvetted illegal immigrants, and she is undoubtedly endangering the safety of our neighborhoods and communities,” Tudor Dixon, a Republican who ran against Whitmer in the 2022 gubernatorial race, previously told Fox News Digital.
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Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has been rumored to be a possible running mate for Kamala Harris. (Bill Priano/Getty Images)
“If someone were to commit a crime, it would be unthinkable,” Christopher Kielkus, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, said Monday. [him if] Governor Whitmer’s administration and her approach have made crime worse. [or] Even if you say “it got better,” he’ll say, “it didn’t make a huge difference.”
Kielkus said Gov. Whitmer has focused on gun crime, reforming firearm storage laws and expanding red flag reporting laws to reduce gun violence.
“I don’t think the data is out yet on whether it’s successful,” Kielkus said. “My intuition is that it won’t make any difference, but that may be my own bias on this issue.”
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Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer campaigned for Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, at a house party in Durham, New Hampshire on July 25, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Mike Sauger, president of the Michigan Fraternal Order of Police, said Governor Whitmer has been “positive about providing health care for police officers and funding for recruits at the police academy.”
“But I think she has taken a mostly centrist position,” Sorger told Fox News Digital on Monday. “Michigan, like many other states, has a shortage of qualified candidates for police positions and no serious efforts are being made to fill them.”
“There have been no anti-police or controversial bills introduced this session, so it’s unclear how Gov. Whitmer will respond if she has to choose a side.”
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President Joe Biden, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow arrive to tour the 2022 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, on September 14, 2022. – Biden is visiting the auto show to highlight electric vehicle manufacturing. (Mandel Gunn/AFP via Getty Images)
It’s unclear where Whitmer stands as Harris’ running mate. CBS Morning She said Monday that she had not previously been involved in the vetting process.
“Everything is cut down, [Harris] “We’ll probably make that decision in the next six or seven days,” Whitmer said. “We’ll know who her running mate will be and we’ll get started on the convention.”
Whitmer will serve out the remainder of her term. Governor of Michigan Until 2026.
“I’m not sure what to do,” she told reporters last week. [anything] While she said while signing Michigan’s education budget that she would “serve no other purpose for the next two and a half years,” it’s unclear whether she could be persuaded to vacate her seat if she were nominated for vice president.
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Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer speaks at the Clinton Global Initiative conference at the Hilton Midtown on September 19, 2023 in New York City. (John Nasion/WireImage)
Whitmer began her political career in 2006 when she won a special election to the state Senate. She served in the chamber until 2015 and was the state’s first female Democratic Party chair from 2011 to 2015.
In 2013, during a debate on abortion, Governor Whitmer gained national attention when she spoke about abortion on the Michigan Senate floor, in which she recounted her own experience with sexual assault.
She served as Ingham County prosecutor for six months in 2016. Two years later, she was elected governor, ousting Republican candidate Bill Schuette for state attorney general.
She defeated Dixon, a businessman and conservative political commentator, to win re-election for a second term in 2022.
Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, is serving her second term. (AP Photo/Al Goldis, File)
In July 2022, Governor Whitmer signed an executive order to reduce crime and gun violence, stating, “As a former prosecutor, I believe that public safety [was] Top priority [her]”
“Right now in Michigan, crime and gun violence mean too many families don’t feel safe in their neighborhoods,” she said at the time.
“This is unacceptable. We must stop the violence and hold people accountable,” she continued. “We need to address both crime and gun violence simultaneously because nearly a third of reported violent crimes involve firearms and they are closely linked. That’s why I’ve worked to give law enforcement the resources they need in a bipartisan budget.”
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If Whitmer is selected as Harris’ running mate, both candidates will be on the verge of being victims of conspiracies against them.
In October 2020, the F.B.I. They announced the arrests of 13 men. He was charged with orchestrating a domestic terrorism plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor and other charges related to acts of violence aimed at overthrowing the state government.
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
