Gretchen Whitmer says she won’t run as nominee even if Biden stands down

Gretchen Whitmer speaks at a get out the vote event in East Lansing, Michigan, in November 2022. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

The Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, said she would not run for the Democratic nomination for president this year even if Joe Biden cedes to growing pressure and steps aside.

“It’s a distraction more than anything,” Whitmer told the Associated Press, in an interview to promote her new memoir, True Gretch, which will be published on Tuesday.