With this coronavirus we do not know if the next United States presidential campaign will have massive rallies, if the candidates will be able to debate face to face or if everything will be an eternal succession of video calls. What is certain is that on November 3 the Americans will decide whether to continue with Donald Trump or to give Joe Biden a chance. And also that the latter will need someone to accompany him on the ballot as a candidate for vice president. Or, most likely, vice president candidate.
RELATED
Biden is locked up in his Wilmington, Delaware home, campaigning from his basement. Now that being a candidate does not include jumping all day from state to state in a private jet, you have more time to think about one of the most far-reaching decisions of your career. The studies We are told that the election of a vice president does not greatly affect the outcome of a presidential election, but the elected one can give the presidential candidate great disappointments: all you have to do is remember John McCain’s fiasco with the ultra Sarah Palin in 2008.
Traditionally, to choose a ballot partner, geographical balance was kept in mind: that it be from a different region from that of the presidential candidate, that it help to win his native state … Other times, attempts were made to complete the candidate in other ways: For example, Obama, a novice in politics who wanted to be the first black president, chose an experienced (and very white) Biden to give credibility to his candidacy. And now it is Biden who is seeking completion.
Joe Biden, like each and every one of the 45 presidents of the United States to this day, is a man. Also, like everyone except one, he is white. And to finish, he will be 70 years old. As the Democratic constituency is increasingly different from Biden (diverse, young, female), it is highly unlikely that the candidate will choose another white man to accompany him. In fact, he himself got engaged to choose a woman as a candidate for vice president during the primaries.
The former vice president is not short of candidates for the job, although the position comes with some difficult demands. In the middle of the #MeToo era, the woman who accompanies Biden in his candidacy will be forced time and time again to defend his boss from the accusations from Tara Reade, a woman who worked for him and who says the then-senator abused her in 1993. The Democratic candidate he denied.
Another feature that would be interesting to Biden is for his ballot partner to help him mobilize the black vote. In 2016 Hillary Clinton became With the support than 90% of African American voters, but they turned out to vote a lot less than in the previous two presidential elections. His participation dropped seven points and that decline could be decisive for the result, costing Democrats key states like Ohio and Florida. That’s why we see so many African-American women on all the lists of possible vice presidential candidates for Biden.
The candidate himself has said that he would choose Michelle Obama without hesitation, but that she does not want the position (and does not want it). Another widely cited name is Stacey Abrams, who rose to prominence as she came very close to taking from Republicans the office of governor of the very conservative state of Georgia. She herself has declared publicly interested in the appointment and, with no false modesty, adds that it would be an “excellent” choice.
In addition to her, Biden could also look at Kamala Harris. The California black senator was her rival during the Democratic primaries and even had some confrontation in the debates, but he already said last December that he would take her into account for the position, even though they were still adversaries at the time. Another interesting choice would be African-American Congresswoman Val Demings, who is also from the key state of Florida.
Although Trump’s four-plus-year prospect should be a huge motivator for any Democrat, Joe Biden could also use his choice of a vice president to thrill the left wing of the party. No one escapes that he represents the most centrist part of the Democrats, a member of the establishment, and that millions of young voters would rather have seen another candidate win the primaries. Maybe I could wink at them in choosing their vice president.
Bernie Sanders is another white septuagenarian like Biden and also doesn’t seem to have much interest in the appointment. The second option would be his also former rival in the primaries, Elizabeth Warren, very popular in the most left-wing sector of the Democratic Party. She has already said that I would be delighted.
One choice that would surely piss off the most leftists and give them a reason to stay home on election day is Amy Klobuchar. We are talking about another of Biden’s rivals in the Democratic primaries, but one that is much closer to him ideologically. I would not complete him on that side but, as a senator for Minnesota, it is true that he comes from a region of the country to which the Democratic candidate will have to pay close attention if he wants to block a second Trump term.
Among so many women who publicly campaign to be Biden’s candidate, there is one who seems hell-bent on getting out of the way. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has become a star among Democrats in these times of coronavirus. Her cold blood in the face of conservative pressures to end the confinement have made her famous, but has said quite emphatically that she is not interested in going to work at the White House.
Abrams, Harris, Warren, Klobuchar, Demings … only Biden knows who will be the chosen one, or maybe not even him. We’ll see who he chooses to try to get to the White House.
