Behind Biden's Thinking on a Female Running Mate

Biden, the vice president under Barack Obama, has made clear that he already has his own detailed set of criteria for a running mate, requirements that go well beyond biographical or geographical considerations.

And while Biden is certainly not yet the nominee — he faces Sen. Bernie Sanders in primaries in Arizona, Florida and Illinois on Tuesday, while the Ohio governor moved to postpone his state’s primary — he has engaged on the subject in depth throughout the campaign, having fielded questions about a vice president from voters and journalists alike for months.

Here is a guide to how Biden discusses what is poised to become one of the most closely watched matters of the campaign to come: the veepstakes.

— Here are some of the possible candidates he has mentioned — and what his allies think about them.

Biden has mentioned by name, or alluded to, a long list of potential running mates, including several of his former 2020 campaign rivals. And his allies are already quietly — and largely unofficially — debating the merits of various vice-presidential candidates, mainly focusing on the names Biden himself has floated in public.

One school of thought holds that Biden would have to choose a running mate who reflects the racial diversity of the Democratic Party, and he is already facing pressure from some of his most loyal backers to select a black woman in recognition of his unique debt to black voters.

Another view is that the stakes of the election are so high, and Democrats are so focused on beating President Donald Trump, that Biden would have wide latitude to choose whichever person he concludes is likeliest to help him win the general election. And choosing a popular woman for the vice presidency might be greeted with strong enough enthusiasm within the Democratic Party to offset any reservations about an all-white ticket.

During an interview with NBC News last week, Biden proactively raised Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Some close to Biden’s campaign have noted that he appears fond of Klobuchar, who endorsed him before Super Tuesday. He went on to win her home state, Minnesota, despite never having campaigned there this cycle, and he seemed visibly incredulous at his results watch party that evening when he noted the victory, a reflection of how unexpected it was.

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“What an incredible woman,” Dr. Jill Biden, Biden’s wife, said of Klobuchar at a fundraiser earlier this month.

While Klobuchar could be helpful in cementing Joe Biden’s connections to the Midwestern battleground states in play this fall, she would struggle to excite many liberal voters — an area of weakness for Biden.

A significant unknown factor is what steps Biden might have to take to rally the full Democratic coalition and excite younger and more progressive voters, especially if his contest with Sanders drags on for months and leaves deep scars in his relationship with the left.

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But it is clear that a number of his top supporters from across the ideological spectrum would like to see a black woman on the ticket.

“To look up and see a black woman on the biggest stage I think would say a lot about how much we value the most committed Democratic constituency,” said state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Pa., a Biden surrogate.

Rep. James E. Clyburn, D-S.C., who played an influential role in Biden’s decisive South Carolina comeback, also said in a recent interview with Axios on HBO that he preferred that Biden select an African-American woman.

“I hope he would be listening to James Clyburn on this,” said former Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

The most obvious pick would be Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who ran against Biden for the 2020 nomination. The day after she dropped out of the race, Biden said: “She can be the president one day herself. She can be the vice president.” A number of major donors who previously supported Harris went on to embrace Biden, and Harris rallied with him on the eve of the Michigan primary. He dealt a major blow to Sanders in that contest the next day.

But she also endorsed him after her home state of California voted, and there are still bruised feelings among some in the Biden camp over her lacerating remarks about his views on busing during a debate-stage clash. At the fundraiser this month, Jill Biden called that exchange a “punch to the gut.” But Joe Biden has said that he struggles to hold grudges, and values the fact that Harris, the former California attorney general, worked with his late son, Beau Biden, when he was attorney general of Delaware.

He has also expressed openness to Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, though more recently he emphasized her value in the Senate. Still, he said on the debate stage on Sunday that they had spoken recently, and over the weekend he endorsed her bankruptcy proposal.

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In November, he alluded to several other women outside of Washington: Sally Q. Yates, the acting attorney general who was fired by Trump early in his term; Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia House minority leader and 2018 nominee for governor; and Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire.

Other names generating chatter include Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Rep. Val Demings of Florida. But in an MSNBC interview on Monday, Whitmer appeared to take herself out of the running. “It is not going to be me, but I’m going to have a hand in helping make sure that he has got the rounded-out ticket that can win,” she said.

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— The most important factor: A running mate with whom he is “simpatico.”

While Biden often says it is “presumptuous” to discuss a running mate, he has something of a routine down when asked about it.

He will discuss the strong working relationship he had with President Barack Obama, and say that he is looking for a running mate with whom he is similarly “simpatico” on key issues — and for someone who could be entrusted with presidential authority.

“I’m going to pick someone who is simpatico with me philosophically,” he said in August. “Agrees with me. Now if you’re not, that’s OK, I have great respect. But you’ve got to be able to turn and say to your vice president, ‘This is your responsibility.’ Because the job is too big anymore for any one man or woman.”

And in an interview on “The Last Word” with Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC last Monday, he added more texture: “Someone who is simpatico with where I want to take the country. We can disagree on tactic but not on strategy.”

— The former vice president cares about experience.

Biden often suggests on the campaign trail that the presidency is no place for on-the-job training — and he has signaled that he greatly values experience in a running mate, too.

In the past, some nominees have tapped vice-presidential candidates who were untested on the national stage as part of an effort to shore up a political vulnerability. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain, for instance, picked Sarah Palin, then the governor of Alaska, in an effort to appeal to conservatives — but she often stumbled in the spotlight, creating problems for his team.

Biden seems leery of that approach, though he has indicated that he would find a range of backgrounds to be useful, from presidential primary debate-stage experience to resumes forged at both the state and national level.

Age is also a factor, the 77-year-old Biden has said.

“One, that they are younger than I am,” he said in Hudson, New Hampshire, last month, “And No. 2, that they are ready on Day 1 to be president of the United States of America.”

“There has to be some correlation between their views and mine,” he added at that stop. He said that someone who “insisted that we do ‘Medicare for All’” would present “a real problem.” Warren championed Medicare for All last summer and fall, but then pivoted and proposed waiting as long as three years to seek passage of the legislation.

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Some of Biden’s advisers have long regarded the vice presidency as a crucial instrument for unifying the party, and conversations last year about choosing a running mate very early fizzled in part because the job was seen as an important tool they might need to use later on.

But the one view that pervades every corner of Biden’s camp is that he must choose someone who is clearly prepared to assume the presidency, both because of his own advanced age and because of the gravity of the economic and social crisis confronting the country.

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— The coronavirus could become a new factor — here’s how.

At his best, his allies say, Biden is a steady, seasoned hand ready to lead in a tumultuous time. It is a message he and his supporters have increasingly stressed as the country grapples with the coronavirus outbreak — and Biden appears unlikely to undermine that point with a vice-presidential choice that could be perceived as risky or gimmicky.

His running-mate pick would be seen through the lens of a public health crisis, arguing against selecting someone who is untested in the face of potential catastrophe. Given Biden’s emphasis on electing a president who does not require on-the-job training, he seems inclined to apply that standard to a running-mate as well.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .