Spotlight on Harris and Abrams as Biden looks for running mate
Democratic front-runner could make history with African-American woman on ticket for first time
ATTENTION in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination is turning to Stacey Abrams and Kamala Harris amid calls for Joe Biden to make history by appointing a woman of colour as his running mate and potential vice-president.
Mr Biden is yet to officially secure the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, although his rival Bernie Sanders is widely expected to drop out given he has lost eight of the last nine states which voted.
But the former vice-president is already considering picking the first ever African-American woman on a US presidential ticket as his mind turns to the November election against Donald Trump.
Mr Biden said during a debate last Sunday that he would select a woman as his running mate.
In November, he said he “could start naming people” when asked about potential vice-presidents, including “the woman who should have been the governor of Georgia” on a list of picks.
That woman is Ms Abrams, a Georgia politician who narrowly missed out on becoming the state’s governor in a 2018 race which triggered allegations against the Republicans of voter suppression.
Despite never holding nationwide office, the 46-year-old has become a Democratic rising star and was picked to give the response to Mr Trump’s State of the Union address last year.
Kamala Harris, the California senator who dropped her own bid for the Democratic presidential nomination late last year, is another name floated frequently by aides and strategists musing on the topic.
The 55-year-old, whose father is from Jamaica and mother is from India. outlined a policy platform during her White House bid that was not far from that proposed by Mr Biden, and she has recently endorsed him.
James Clyburn, the influential South Carolina congressman whose endorsement helped secure Mr Biden victory in the state that triggered his primaries comeback, has called for an African
American woman to get the position. “I’ll never tell you who I’m going to advise him,” he said last month. “But I would advise him that we need to have a woman on the ticket, and I prefer an African-American woman.”
Other female politicians said to be in the running include Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, two more senators who ran for the 2020 nomination, and Gretchen Whitmer, the Michigan governor.
Mr Biden, 77, has cited political experience, a similar vision for America and relative youth among the characteristics he wants in a deputy. He also said he wants a ticket that “is going to look like the country”.
The process of whittling down the names to a shortlist and eventually picking a winner could take months, with the victor possibly announced at the Democratic National Convention due in July.
Biden has cited political experience, a similar vision and relative youth among the qualities he is seeking