Decision time: who will Joe Biden pick as his VP?
- Voters will likely look more carefully at who will be able to succeed Biden due to his age
- Biden may also try to send a message to certain voting blocs if he chooses a non-white running mate
The week Joe Biden will announce his running mate has finally arrived.
Senator Kamala Harris and Susan Rice, former national security adviser to President Barack Obama, have emerged as the top contenders. Either one would make history as the first black woman to be a running mate.
Biden, who has made it clear earlier he’ll choose a woman as his running mate, was also considering Congresswoman Karen Bass of California, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Congresswoman Val Demings of Florida, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois.
“He has a very difficult decision to make, for sure,” said Niambi Carter, an associate professor of political science at Howard University. “But it’s almost an embarrassment of riches.”
The stakes are high for whichever woman Biden chooses as his running mate, as the former vice-president’s age has been a main target for President Donald Trump, who has attempted to raise doubt on his cognitive ability. Biden may also try to send a message to certain voting blocs, particularly Black or other voters of colour, if he decides to choose a non-white running mate.
But Carter suggested Biden needs to find someone who excites the younger and more progressive wings of the Democratic Party concerned the presumptive nominee was a capitulation to moderates.