It’s been another week of major historic political events. President Biden walked away from his race for reelection, and Vice President Kamala Harris came sprinting in to pick up the baton. On the latest episode of MichMash, host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Alethia Kasben sat down with former state Rep. Adam Zemke from Ann Arbor to talk about her chances of winning. 

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode:

• President Biden dropping out of the race for reelection
• How the election cycle for 2024 compares to 2016
• Vice President Kamala Harris’ chances of winning the election

Zemke defended Biden after the debate, saying that criticisms about his cognitive ability were unwarranted.  

“I watched his NATO Q&A. That was really what did it for me. That hour-long Q&A that was, off the cuff with reporters. I watched all of that intently, and I sent out a tweet afterwards saying I didn’t see any cognitive decline at all,” said Zemke. “I thought he was very sharp on policy.”

The former representative compared that moment in the media to when Hilary Clinton emails were brought up in 2016. He said both moments were overly criticized and received unbalanced attention from the media.  

In regards to Harris succeeding Biden in his run for office, Zemke said we learned a lot as a people during that time.

“In 2016, I think people did think, ‘how could Donald Trump actually win? They had more supporters that voted. The reality is this, I think people are hell-bent on making sure that that doesn’t happen again.” he said. 

He added that both Hilary Clinton and Harris bring different qualities and background to the table. That along with the experience from 2016 makes Zemke feel Harris has a shot to make it in November.  

More from WDET:

• MichMash: How do we navigate the modern political climate peacefully?
• VP Kamala Harris touts domestic EV initiatives in Detroit
• Created Equal: Maternity care deserts and the loss of health care access for women

More from Gongwer News Services

• Whitmer on VP speculation: ‘I’m not going anywhere’

Since Vice President Kamala Harris’ endorsement from President Joe Biden last Sunday, an overwhelming majority of congressional Democrats, governors and delegates have pledged their support for her as the Democratic Party nominee.

While this support is non-binding, it is significant for the start of her campaign for the official nomination. 

But Harris’ vice presidency has not been without it’s criticism, as many question her efforts to secure the border — one of her frontline tasks during her time in office — at a time when immigration has become a central issue in Republican messaging.

Elaina Plott Calabro, a staff writer for The Atlantic who has written extensively about Harris’ vice presidency, joined Created Equal on Thursday to discuss her recent article about how the former prosecutor and presumptive Democratic nominee can embrace her law-enforcement record to compete against Trump this November. 

Subscribe to Created Equal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest:

Elaina Plott Calabro is a staff writer for The Atlantic. She has been reporting on Harris’s career both before and during her time as vice president of the United States. She says that Harris took a backseat as vice president because she was more comfortable in a supportive role after America’s response to her attempted immigration reform in Central America. 

“I remember [Joe Biden’s former Chief of Staff Ron Klain] said to me in our interview that her response was: ‘I’m just terrified of doing something that sets back the administration, or distracts from the mission.’ She really took it seriously. Her mandate as vice president was to sort of support the president and make sure that people saw him as a really accomplished individual, [which was] an agenda that was working for them,” she said. “She was comfortable in that role, sort of working more behind the scenes – which is why I think I levy a lot of responsibility on Joe Biden for kind of freeing her from those inherent [or] structural inhibitions of the vice presidency, to let her be more of a star in her own right [with the endorsement].”

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.