Gov. Whitmer says it 'wouldn't hurt' if Biden took a cognitive test
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said it would not hurt for President Biden to have a cognitive test as the president faces mounting pressure to exit the presidential race after his shockingly terrible debate performance. Whitmer, whose name has been floated as a possible Biden replacement, appeared on CNN on Wednesday where she was asked about Biden taking a test.
'I don’t think that it would hurt,” the Democrat said in response to a question by anchor Abby Phillip on whether Biden should take a test and demand that former President Donald Trump do the same. In his interview last week with ABC News, Biden said he has not had a cognitive test and no one said he had to.
The president has not signaled he is willing to have one to combat criticism. Whitmer previously acknowledged the presidential debate was 'not a great success' for Biden, but she has been working to make the case to elect him despite his poor performance.
'Right now we have a choice between Donald Trump for four years which would be destruction of our economy, of our individual rights, of our ability to grow manufacturing which has all happened under Joe Biden,' Whitmer said on CNN. 'Until Joe Biden says otherwise, he is our candidate and that's why I try to remind people, this is a high stakes moment.'
Whitmer was asked about the apparent disconnect between Democratic lawmakers and the president who insists he is staying in the race. 'We are spending a lot of energy not on Donald Trump and the existential threat before us and that gives me a great deal of concern.'
Whitmer said she has heard nothing 'to the contrary' that the president will change his mind and exit the race. She also said she has a lot of work to do in her state of Michigan, a major battleground, to share with voters what Democrats stand for and have accomplished.
President Biden is headed to Detroit on Friday for a campaign event. It will be his first visit to the state since his devastating debate performance. The president won Michigan by just over 150,000 votes in 2020.
The latest poll released since the debate shows Biden down one point to Trump in the state. The Emerson poll has Trump at 45 percent and Biden at 44 percent. The ex-president one the state in 2016 before it flipped back to blue for Biden.
Ahead of Biden's visit to the state, Michigan Democratic lawmaker Hillary Scholten called for Biden to step aside. She's the first member of the Michigan delegation to publicly do so.
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