- Joe Biden has said that four Black women are currently among those being vetted to be his vice president.
- Speaking on MSNBC’s “The Reid Out” show on Monday, he did not commit to picking a Black woman for the job, but said his whole administration will “look like America.”
- He did not share the names of people he was vetting. People rumored to be on the list include Sen. Kamala Harris, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta, and and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
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Joe Biden has said that four Black women are among those being considered tob be his vice presidential pick, and pledged that whomever is chosen, his administration will “look like America.”
He made the comments to journalist Joy Reid on the first airing of her MSNBC show, “The Reid Out,” on Monday.
He stopped short of making an outright commitment to appointing a Black woman as his vice president, but said his administration “from Vice President, to Supreme Court, to Cabinet positions, to every major position in the White House,” would be as diverse as America itself.
Biden did not share the names of the Black women — or anyone else — being vetted.
People rumored to be considered for Biden’s vice presidential pick include Sen. Kamala Harris, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta, Rep. Val Demmings of Florida, Rep. Karen Bass of California, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
“It is important that my administration, I promise you, will look like America,” Biden told Reid on Monday.
“From Vice President to Supreme Court to Cabinet positions to every major position in the White House it’s going to look like America,” he continued. “It’s critically important that be the case. I can guarantee you that.”
He said his popularity within the Black community predates the South Carolina primary, which he won in February with a strong appeal to Black voters.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
Responding to Reid’s remarks that Black women are the “heartbeat” of the Democratic Party, Biden boasted of his support from them and added: “And so they’re the ones, as that old saying goes, that brought me to the dance.”
In March, Biden said that his running mate would “in all likelihood” be a woman.
He also laid out the vetting process, which he noted was being undertaken by “women and men of color as well as white folks.”
As former Vice President, Biden is familiar with the process, which he described as “like a public physical examination.”
Four candidates have been vetted so far, and after the list is narrowed, he will meet them personally and make a decision, Biden said.
