Gretchen Whitmer, the Governor who got under Trump’s skin, moves up sharply in the Biden VP pick betting
Punters rush to bet on her after reports of secret face to face meeting with Biden
In the early days of the Biden VP pick saga Gretchen Whitmer, Governor of the highly marginal state of Michigan, was one of the early favourites. Her state has been one of the worst hit by the pandemic and there was a highly public clash between her and the President after she was said not to have shown enough gratitude to Trump for his assistance.
Since then all has been quiet on her front until the past few hours ago when reports emerged of a secret meeting she had with the presumptive nominee. CNN and others are reporting that “Flight records show a charter plane left Lansing’s Capital Region International Airport at 5:33 p.m. Sunday for Delaware Coastal Airport and returned at 11:16 p.m. that same night.”
Delaware, of course, is the home and base of Biden and very few of the names being considered for the job have had a face to meetings with the man himself.
Just to say that reports of secret charter flights like this are very much a feature of the VP pick process. Those who remember WH2008 will recall the secret flights from Alaska for Sarah Palin to meet John McCain and sharp eyed observers keep a careful eye on the records of charter planes.
What is clear is that a VP race thought to be confined to Harris and Rice has another serious contender – someone who has had direct experience dealing with COVID19 which is overwhelmingly the main issue. Whitmer can attack Trump’s record in a way that few others are able to do.
Given how imminent the VP announcement is then Whitmer has got to be seen now as a very serious contender. She’s worth a punt. At 0400 GMT she was an 11% chance on Betfair.