Democratic voters backed Biden in Michigan primary. His exit is ‘really wild’

• President Biden announced Sunday that he has suspended his presidential campaign, and will not run for reelection  
• Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic Party’s nomination 
• Some Michigan voters say Biden’s decision doesn’t change how they planned to vote

Shock. Resignation. Hope. Apathy. 

Michigan voters who had picked President Joe Biden to top Democratic Party ticket this fall shared a wide array of views following his decision to withdraw from the race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement. 

“It’s really wild, honestly, and it’s probably going to turn the world upside down,” Mea Hyter, 29, of Detroit, told Bridge Michigan. 

While Hyter said she finds it difficult to trust politicians at all, she is now “leaning towards Kamala” in the November election, she said. 

Related:

• Joe Biden drops out of presidential race: What it means for Michigan
• Gretchen Whitmer knocks down VP talk: ‘I’m not leaving Michigan’
• Joe Biden wants to pass the baton to Kamala Harris. Here's how that might work

Biden announced his decision Sunday afternoon, ending weeks of speculation since a disastrous June debate performance against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Several elected Democrats had called on him to end his reelection campaign, but he said in Detroit last week he would not do so.

"I wish it would have happened earlier," Deb Wood, a Democratic voter from Ann Arbor, said less than an hour after Biden’s announcement.

Wood predicted Democratic delegates to the party’s August nominating convention will rally around Harris, but "I don't know how many people are really going to get that excited about her," she said. 

And Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, she speculated, is “going to get a lot of pressure to be Harris’ running mate. "I'd love a two-woman ticket, but I don't think our country is ready for it," Wood said. 

Biden’s decision to step down followed calls from a growing list of prominent Democrats who urged him to drop out because it appeared he was headed toward a loss in the Nov. 5 general election, including U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten of Grand Rapids and some state lawmakers. 

Sarah Rothstein-Linares, 39, of Farmington, said Sunday that Biden was likely “under so much pressure that it was inevitable” he would end his campaign.

Regardless of change, Rothstein-Linares said she plans to vote for whoever the Democratic nominee is.

That was a sentiment held by 24-year-old twins Maia and Emily Grabowski, who told Bridge that they’d be backing the “lesser of two evils” — someone they defined as anyone other than Trump, who was previously elected president in 2016.

“Trump is never going to be voted for on my end,” Emily Grabowski said outside a grocery store in Lansing. “So that's why I'm hopeful that somebody who's the lesser of two evils will be up there and then I'll vote for them.”

Maia Grabowski, who lives in Chicago, similarly said that while she didn’t know much about Harris specifically, “I’m eager to hear what she has to say.” 

Over the last few weeks, concerns about Biden’s age led several Democratic officials and voters to question if the president was capable of holding office for another eight years. 

“He is too old at this point, but the way they went about it was wrong,” said Shelton Mathews, 45 of Detroit, referring to how some prominent Democrats called for Biden to step down. 

Mathews said he plans to vote for Harris if she becomes the Democratic nominee. 

“I don’t think they should have it open for everybody to (run),” Mathews told Bridge, saying he does not want to see a contested convention when Democrats gather in Chicago next month. 

Biden faced only token opposition in Michigan's March Democratic presidential primary, which he won with 625,221 votes. But more than 100,000 Michigan voters cast "uncommitted" ballots, largely in opposition to Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. 

Last week, Bridge spoke to Jack Brady, a 19-year-old University of Michigan student from Northville, who was excited to vote in his first presidential election — but was less enthused about his choices. 

Between the 81-year-old Biden and 78-year-old Trump, Brady said then that he might write in the name of a younger politician — like Whitmer. 

But as of Sunday, he was reconsidering.

If Harris is the Democratic Party nominee, Brady said his vote may come down to whether she picks someone “more moderate” as a running mate. 

“I don’t think she’d be a very good president,” Brady said of Harris, telling Bridge he thinks the country has had “massive issues” while she has served as Biden’s vice president. 

But a “good enough” running mate “could add enough value to make the ticket worthwhile,” he said. “I’d also much rather vote for an actual candidate than write someone in, and a good vp pick could get me over enough concerns.”

Wood, the Ann Arbor voter, said she hopes Biden's withdrawal and replacement is something that can ultimately "unite" Democrats heading into the November election. 

"Because right now,” she said, “it's a divided party.”

Bridge staffer Paula Gardner and intern Sneha Dhandapani contributed.