To the Journal editor:

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer should be the Democratic Party’s nominee for vice president in 2020. Whitmer gives Democrats their best chance of winning nationally on November 3.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has already promised to choose a woman to be his vice president and specifically an African-American woman to be Biden’s judicial nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hypothetically, if everything else remains the same as 2016 (and it probably won’t), Joe Biden only needs to add three additional states to the Democratic column to win back the White House: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. That’s it. Three states.

Biden will win in Pennsylvania big time. Considering Vice President Biden’s lifelong personal ties to the Keystone State (he’s from Scranton after all) Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes are a relatively easy pickup for the Democrats with Biden at the top of the presidential ticket.

On the other hand, with only 10 electoral votes, Wisconsin is the least important and most difficult lift for the Democrats of the three states in question.

The outcome in Wisconsin is probably a toss-up at this point. Losing Wisconsin again would require Democrats to win elsewhere and to flip a traditionally Red state in Wisconsin’s place, such as Arizona or North Carolina for instance.

Strategically speaking, this makes securing Michigan’s 16 electoral votes an urgent priority for the Biden campaign. Therefore, putting popular political rising star Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan on the Democratic ticket would clearly be of great benefit to the cause of reaching the 270 electoral vote total needed to win the presidency.

With Gov. Whitmer on the ticket, Democratic victory in Michigan becomes an absolute certainty.

Another potential candidate being considered by Vice President Biden is Georgia’s legitimate Governor Stacey Abrams who is currently heading the Fair Fight organization working to end the Republican Party’s illegal and unconstitutional nationwide voter suppression schemes.

Abrams would be a charismatic pick for V.P. However, winning officially in gerrymandered, jury rigged Georgia at this particular point in time is probably not a realistic goal. And, therefore, choosing Abrams would likely be a wasted choice in terms of securing electoral votes.

None of the other potential vice presidential nominees are likely to actually add to the Democrats’ electoral college vote total, with the possible exception of Florida U.S. Rep. Val Demings who should be Biden’s backup choice for vice president.