President Biden swore to Michigan voters Friday that he was “OK” during a campaign stop in the crucial swing state — before misnaming a prominent Democratic congresswoman.
“I promise you, I am – I’m OK,” the 81-year-old president told supporters at a Northville, Mich., restaurant before heading to a larger rally in Detroit, where he stumbled attempting to shout-out Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).
“Members of Congress – Debbie Haley,” Biden said, apparently referring to Dingell, a five-term congresswoman.
“And by the way, I want you to know that I’ve spent a lot of time with Debbie,” he added. “She helped me a lot.”
Biden went on to note Dingell’s resemblance to his wife, first lady Jill Biden.
“I forget which event we were at, and someone said, you’re his wife, aren’t you?” Biden said, explaining that Dingell “looks like Jill.”
Biden, who didn’t correct the gaffe, admitted much later in the event that “sometimes I confuse names.”
Many of the state’s political power players were notably absent from the campaign rally.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer – a Biden campaign co-chair and rumored Biden replacement option – was out of the state for the event.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), a candidate for the Wolverine State’s open Senate seat, was also not in attendance, and neither was United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who earlier this week declared that Biden “absolutely” could defeat former President Donald Trump in November and expressed his belief that Democrats will be able to hold their slim majority in the upper chamber, was also absent.
Biden’s remarks, at Detroit’s Renaissance High School, were made at the same venue where on the 2020 campaign trail he proclaimed to be “a bridge” to a new generation of leadership.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Biden told rally-goers, as calls from Democratic lawmakers for him to end his re-election effort mounted this week.
“I am running and we’re going to win,” the president said.
Trump, 78, leads Biden in Michigan by less than a percentage point, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls.
An Emerson College survey, conducted after Biden’s disastrous June 27 debate against Trump, showed the former president ahead of the incumbent by 1 point, 45% to 44%.
Meanwhile, a post-debate Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll had Biden leading by 5 points, 48% to 43%.
The Wolverine State narrowly went for Biden in the 2020 election, 50.6% to 47.4%, after Trump topped former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the state in 2016 by less than 11,000 votes.
However, Biden’s general support for Israel’s war against Hamas following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack has turned off the state’s sizable and key Arab American voting bloc.
Over 100,000 people voted “Uncommitted” in Michigan’s February Democratic primary over Biden’s support for the Israeli offensive.