‘Building bridges’: How Bass became a leading VP contender
SACRAMENTO, Calif. ( AP) — California’s leaders were deadlocked and on the verge of financial catastrophe in 2008. Five negotiators, including Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, couldn’t agree on a budget that would guide the nation’s most populous state through the Great Recession.
Enter Karen Bass, who became Assembly speaker that May, the first Black woman to hold the role. She shifted the tone of the talks, helping the group find common ground.
“When Karen came into the Big 5, everything changed,” said Mike Villines, then the Republican Assembly leader. “We started to make little progress on little things, and it led to bigger progress.”
A dozen years later, the bridge-building, unassuming style that colleagues say made Bass an effective leader in Sacramento is among the reasons she’s emerged as a leading contender to become Joe Biden’s running mate. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee appeared with Bass for the first time at a fundraiser on Thursday. He plans to make a pick next week.
A former physician’s assistant and community organizer, Bass said she brings experience to tackle the nation’s economic, racial and health care crises.
“I have historically, for the last four or five decades, focused on building coalitions and building bridges between ethnic groups, between political ideologies,” she told The Associated Press this week. “I’m a very goal-driven person; I am focused on getting stuff done. And I am willing to work with whoever, whenever, however.”
Her low-key approach was evident as early as 1990, when she launched a nonprofit in Los Angeles. One of the organization’s tenets was “no celebrity-style leadership.” Unlike some of her competitors for vice president, including California Sen. Kamala Harris, Bass hasn’t sought national office and has no stated presidential aspirations.
But that means she is lesser known to voters, lacks a major donor base and hasn’t faced the scrutiny of a national campaign. A past comment about former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro could be troublesome to Hispanic voters in the key swing state of Florida.
Still, she brings plenty of political cachet. She left Sacramento for Congress in 2010 and now chairs the Congressional Black Caucus. After George Floyd’s killing by police, she led Democratic efforts on legislation to overhaul law enforcement, a push that prompted Biden’s team to take her more seriously as a potential running mate.
“She got high marks for managing that deal, but she’s managed similar bills in the past,” said Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, a former CBC chair and Biden ally. “She has a resume that I think is good to be considered.”
Bass, 66, wouldn’t discuss her vetting. But Fabian Nunez, a former state Assembly speaker and close friend of Bass’, said she’s been “properly vetted.” He supported Bass as his successor in the Legislature because the difficult budget talks required a “less ideological” leader who could bring people together, qualities the country needs today.
“The country needs healers,” he said.
Both Biden and Bass learned to heal through personal tragedy. Biden lost his wife and young daughter in a car accident in 1972. In 2006, Bass’ 23-year-old daughter and son-in-law died in a car accident.