After Bernie Sanders dropped out of the US presidential race last week, former Vice President Joe Biden became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to take on Donald Trump in the November 3 elections.
Now, he must name his pick for a running mate. During the final debate just before the coronavirus took over the headlines and airwaves, Biden committed to choosing a woman and he has held fast to that promise since. Consequently, the list of Biden’s potential running mates is exclusively women.
Selecting a running mate is a critical decision for any presidential candidate, but it is an especially critical calculation for the 77-year-old Biden, who if elected would become the oldest American president in history. The decision carries additional weight amid the coronavirus pandemic, which, beyond its high human toll, has devastated the US economy to an extent that will be felt well into the first term of the next president and beyond.
Below are 10 of the women Biden is widely reported to be considering.
1. Kamala Harris
A Senator from California, Harris is a former rival who endorsed Biden and began campaigning for him after she ended her bid in December. She has been at the centre of vice-presidential speculation since. Harris, 55, was elected California attorney general in 2010 and has been a rising star in the Democratic Party. A daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, she could help rally black voters, a crucial Democratic voting bloc, behind Biden.
2. Amy Klobuchar
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, 59, another former rival to Biden, defied expectations in the Democratic primary by performing better than expected in New Hampshire but ultimately could not compete with her better-financed competitors. She dropped out of the race and endorsed Biden just hours before a pivotal Super Tuesday primary contest in her home state, tipping it in Biden’s favour. It is a gesture Biden may remember when it comes time to pick a running mate. Her politics are also in line with Biden’s, and picking her might help him win northern swing states, including Minnesota, which Trump lost to Hillary Clinton by less than 3 percentage points in 2016.
3. Elizabeth Warren
Unlike Klobuchar and Harris, Warren, who also vied for her party’s nomination, did not endorse Biden after she ended her campaign in March. Warren, 70 is a Massachusetts Senator and an academic who specialised in bankruptcy and commercial law. Her policy proposals are much more progressive than Biden’s. Picking her as his running mate might help sway some of the more liberal voters in the Democratic party in his favour.
4. Catherine Cortez Masto
Cortez Masto, a US Senator from Nevada, is lesser-known nationally than many of the other candidates said to be on Biden’s list. But Cortez Masto, 55, became the first Latina senator in the US when she took office in 2017, after serving as Nevada’s attorney general. Before being elected to that post, she worked as a civil litigator in Las Vegas and a US criminal prosecutor in Washington, DC. Her name on the ballot would help Biden appeal to Latino voters, a significant demographic group in the upcoming election.
5. Gretchen Whitmer
Whitmer has been a rising Democratic Party star since winning a tight race in Michigan in 2018 to become that state’s governor, so much so that party leaders tapped her to deliver the response to Trump’s State of the Union address last year. Whitmer, 55, has however already tamped down speculation she could be the nominee, saying on MSNBC that she is happy to help vet possible Biden running mates, but “It’s not going to be me. But I am going to have a hand in helping make sure that he has the rounded-out ticket that can win.” Depending on how she manouevres through the coronavirus pandemic in her state, picking Whitmer could help Biden win back the state of Michigan, a state that Trump won – to almost everyone’s surprise – just barely in 2016.
6. Tammy Duckworth
Duckworth, an Illinois native, was elected to the House in 2012 and the US Senate in 2016, becoming the second Asian American woman in the Senate. The 52-year-old lost both her legs and the full use of her right arm when the Black Hawk helicopter she was piloting during the Iraq war was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. She is the first female double amputee elected to the Senate and the first senator to give birth while in office. She would also be the first Asian American to be nominated by a major party to be a vice-presidential running mate.
7. Stacey Abrams
Abrams narrowly missed becoming the first African American female governor in US history when she lost the 2018 Georgia governor’s race. The 46-year-old Abrams is popular among younger Democrats, a group Biden struggled to win over in the primary. While she has limited executive government experience – she served as a legislator in the Georgia state house from 2007 to 2017 – Abrams has long championed efforts to end voter suppression and register voters. In January 2019, she became the first African American woman to respond to the president’s State of the Union message, as well as the first person not in public office to do so since the tradition began in the 1960s.
8. Val Demings
The African American congresswoman from Florida rose to national prominence after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi chose her as one of seven Democrats to serve as a manager in the impeachment proceedings against Trump. Before coming to Congress, she worked her way up through the ranks of the Orlando, Florida police department to become its first female chief. Demings, 63, was first elected to office in 2016. The fact that she hails from a state deemed critical in November helps, but her background in law enforcement may not please some who have been critical of Biden’s track record on criminal justice.
9. Tammy Baldwin
A relative unknown nationally, Baldwin has been serving as the junior Senator from Wisconsin since 2013. Before that, she served three terms in the Wisconsin state legislature, then 14 years in the US Congress. Baldwin, 58, is the first openly gay Senator and also represents a critical swing state. Her politics fall firmly into the progressive wing of the Democratic party, and her voting record while in Congress consistently put her on the list of that body’s most liberal members.
10. Michelle Lujan Grisham
The New Mexico governor is another unknown nationally but hails from a family prominent in New Mexico politics. But Luhan Grisham, 60, served three terms in the House before being elected governor in 2018 and is also one of the highest-ranking Latina elected officials in the US. In the past, she has been a strong supporter of abortion rights, committed her state to push for lower greenhouse gas emissions, and, as a congresswoman, called for a higher minimum wage and restrictions on the sale of semi-automatic rifles.
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