Joe Biden may have Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris as his running mate as he vets 11 women for VP role
Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden has not done his reputation much good in these times of coronavirus pandemic but his campaign has decided to do something to make the party’s women supporters regain faith in him.
On Tuesday, March 24, the former vice president said his campaign has planned to start vetting 11 women as the potential vice president “sooner or later” during an appearance on ABC’s ‘The View’.
Biden, who is looking strong to clinch the Democratic nomination for the November election by bagging all the Super Tuesday contests against Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, has been indicating for some time that he would pick a woman as his running mate.
Speculation is also rife that the 77-year-old may pick a vice presidential mate from among his former rivals like Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar or Elizabeth Warren who opted out of the race in the course of time. Harris and Klobuchar, the senators from California and Minnesota respectively, endorsed Biden as the president after dropping out while Massachusetts Senator Warren has not endorsed anybody after her exit.
“I just need to make sure whomever I pick...that person is sympatico with where I want to take the nation in terms of domestic and foreign policy,” Biden said during the interview. “I think there are a number of women who are in that category. The lawyers are putting together what will be the nature of the vetting process. It's got to be thorough, which it would be. We're looking at when to start sooner than later.”
The former senator from Delaware also said that his campaign is looking at a shortlist of women featuring about 12 to 15 names. He even said that those candidates have the quality to become the president in the coming days, adding that the number will eventually be narrowed down to 11.
The US hasn’t seen a woman president or vice president in its history. In 2016, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton came close to becoming the president but lost to Donald Trump despite getting more popular votes.
Biden committed to pick a woman as his running mate in the last Democratic debate in Washington DC earlier this month. His opponent Sanders did not commit to doing the same but said he would move in that direction “in all likelihood”.
Biden gained momentum in primaries after a slow start
Biden has won 19 out of 27 states that have gone to the primaries so far after failing to win any of the first three. He now has 1,215 delegates, according to the New York Times, requiring another 700-odd to bag the nomination.
Sanders has 909 delegates so far after he won two of the first three state primaries/caucuses.
Biden also clarified on the program that he has not spoken to Sanders to drop out of the race and left the decision for him to take.
Both the candidates are doing virtual campaigns now because of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic that has around 42,164 confirmed cases and 471 deaths (According to WHO's last update at 18:00 CET on 3/24/2020).