In a U.S. election year that has seen the coronavirus pandemic upend primary voting as well as the conventions of the two political parties, the vice-presidential pick might be more widely anticipated than in past years. Democratic nominee Joe Biden is expected to make his choice some time in the coming week.
In a U.S. election year that has seen the coronavirus pandemic upend primary voting as well as the conventions of both the Democrat and Republican parties, Joe Biden’s vice-presidential choice might be more widely anticipated than in past election years.
The Democratic presidential candidate has said his selection for running mate will be announced the first week of August.
He has promised to pick a female running mate, and in the wake of the George Floyd protests and subsequent conversations about representation in roles of power, there has been hope in some Democratic quarters that he will choose a qualified Black woman.
John Nance Garner, Franklin Roosevelt’s vice-president from 1933 to 1941, once said the job wasn’t “worth a bucket of warm piss,” because of its often ceremonial role in the large shadow of the president. But with the likes of Biden and Dick Cheney in recent years, each of whom had decades of D.C. experience, the authority and scope of the role has expanded.
The vice-president is called upon to break tie votes in the Senate and is first in the line of succession should a president become incapacitated or not be able to fulfil their duties.
The need for a vice-president to be ready to immediately occupy the Oval Office — and Biden will turn 78 in late November — has meant that the vast majority in modern times have had previous congressional experience, with the exceptions of ex-governors Nelson Rockefeller and Spiro Agnew.
These factors could prove too formidable for Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and ex-Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams, accomplished Black women mentioned as potential candidates who have not served on Capitol Hill.
WATCH l Biden has several considerations to assess in his VP pick:
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has not yet picked a running mate, but some of his supporters say picking a Black woman would be a major campaign boost. 2:31
Political scientists have long debated how much the choice of vice-president moves the needle in a significant way in terms of votes, but there are considerations to the selection.
Barack Obama, still relatively new to Washington, wanted an experienced hand and mentor in Biden, while Donald Trump sought to shore up support from reluctant conservatives by picking evangelical Christian Mike Pence.
There has never a female vice-president in the U.S., with previous candidates Geraldine Ferraro (1984) and Sarah Palin (2008) a part of losing tickets.
Here’s a snapshot of some of the women who have been floated as possible candidates in multiple reports from political journalists in the U.S.:
Tammy Baldwin
Baldwin, 58, has a lower profile than the likes of potential candidates Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, but outranks them in terms of congressional seniority. After spending a few years as a lawyer in a private practice, Baldwin bounced from her state’s assembly to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1999 and then the Senate in 2012.
Baldwin represents Wisconsin, thought to be one of the competitive states from the 2016 election that Biden will likely need to wrest from Trump to reach the 270 electoral college votes needed to become president.
While a Baldwin pick could disappoint those hoping Biden selects a person of colour, it could also inspire LGBTQ voters — Baldwin made history as the first openly gay woman to serve in Congress.
Rep. Karen Bass
Biden has often lamented the loss of a bipartisan spirit in Congress. The calm Bass — who considers herself a progressive but has earned praise from liberals and largely avoided attacks from arch-conservative politicians and commentators — could therefore be an appealing choice.
Bass, 66, is a five-term congresswoman. Prior to coming to Washington, she was the first Black woman to serve as speaker of the California state assembly. Her committee assignments in D.C. have reflected a broad base of subjects that would serve an administration well — homeland security, global human rights, the internet and intellectual property among them — and she is currently the Congressional Black Caucus chair.
Bass has spent most of her life in Southern California, raised by working-class parents and coming of age during tumultuous times with the Watts riots in the mid-1960s and the 196