Depending on how you see it, either Joe Biden, the Democratic Party or both were lucky in that the coronavirus lockdowns started kicking in just as he had cinched the nomination. Everyone, probably even most Republicans, knows that Biden can do the job. That wasn’t at issue in this primary where Democratic voters were hellbent on determining which candidate had the best chance at beating Trump. Both voters and other candidates coalesced behind Biden, who seemed to have the best chance at winning over moderate voters and perhaps even moderate Republicans in swing states. Much of this calculation has to do with a perceived comfort level with white man. Afterall, with the exception of one, all U.S. presidents have been white men.
Therefore, Biden is a comfort-zone candidate, but that comfort could also serve as a liability considering that Democrats love to fall in love with transformational candidates like Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. They later fall out of love, but that is another story for another article. Biden lacks excitement and he promises little more than a third Obama term. (After these past two months, voters might just be hankering for a safe and boring president.) But, in the March Democratic debate, Biden committed to doing something that might add some freshness and vigor to his campaign: he committed to choosing a female vice-presidential running mate. Since then speculation has run high. The prospect of a female vice president is still a novelty for Americans, this will only be the third time that a woman has been chosen as the vice-presidential candidate for a major party.
Why Biden needs a female veep
Biden isn’t exactly the top feminist pick for a presidential candidate. Those of us over 50 remember his role in the 1991 Senate hearings in which Anita Hill, the young African America law professor, testified about supreme court nominee Clarence Thomas, also African American. Her testimony is what put the term “sexual harassment” into the national lexicon and debate, an anguishing one that mixed race and gender. Her testimony about how Thomas had sexually harassed her when they had worked together, was made even more harrowing because she had to do so in front of a panel of 14 white male Senators that made up the Senate Judiciary Committee. This is no simple story, but what we all remember is how these men treated her, dismissively and with condescension and how Joe Biden, who was then chair of the committee, was in a position to do something about it, but didn’t. Just last year he finally expressed regret about it to Hill but gave no apology.
The more recent case of Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser Christine Blasey Ford provided the nation with a gut-wrenching déjà vu of Hill’s testimony. Both men currently serve lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court but both cases also had bigger implications. The Anita Hill hearings galvanized women to run for office in 1992, which became the “year of the woman” because they doubled their numbers in Congress. Blasey Ford’s hearings fueled the #metoo movement that brought to life how very common sexual harassment and assault is and the importance of naming names.
Then there are many allegations of him inappropriately touching women and, of course, former aid Tara Reade’s sexual assault accusation that has most recently come to the fore in the media. In an interview with MSNBC on May 1st, Biden denied any wrongdoing. Reade has continued her quest and in an interview with former Fox News and NBC anchor Megyn Kelly she said that Biden should drop out of the 2020 race.
All of this is troubling and while Trump has perhaps done worse, this is especially problematic for a Democrat because the Democratic Party is the party of women. According to Pew data, 56% of American women are either Democrats or lean towards the party as opposed to 37% who are Republicans or lean Republican. And women vote, outvoting men overall by about 10 million ballots. These figures may make you wonder why a woman didn’t win the primary, which has to do with excessive fear over who would be the most “electable” candidate.
So, any nominee for the Democratic Party, must take women into account and Democratic women are still smarting from Hillary Clinton’s loss to Trump, which makes having a female VP feel like some sort of lame consolation prize that comes with a Biden candidacy. But a win is a win and really, Biden just owes us.
Vice Presidential picks matter…somewhat
While some say that choosing a vice presidential candidate is the most important decision a presidential candidate can make, just how consequential this decision can be is up to debate. There are three main strategies that are often behind this decision. First, the most important job a vice president has is being ready to step into the presidency at a moment’s notice should something happen to the president. If a candidate is older, then they often want to pick someone younger, but it must be someone who can do the job if need be—this was a major problem for John McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin. She helped in other ways, but as the campaign wore on, it became clear that she was woefully unprepared to be president.
Second, a running mate may also help fill in any gaps in experience that the presidential candidate has. Biden himself balanced out Barack Obama’s inexperience, especially in foreign policy, and also put the familiar face of an older white man behind the first black man to head up the ticket for a major political party. A third strategy is to pick one candidate over another for VP because they might help win a swing state or region, although past elections show us that this doesn’t always guarantee that they will win that state. Diversifying regions has been a common way that presidential candidates have gone.
Of course, Bill Clinton’s pick of Al Gore in 1992, didn’t use any of these strategies. Like Clinton, Gore was young and from the South. His status as a senator didn’t necessarily add to Clinton’s experience as a governor. But it was a winning ticket.
Then finally, there’s loyalty. It’s also important that a VP candidate doesn’t overshadow the candidate himself. Look no further than Trump’s pick of Mike Pence to see this. Further, most presidential candidates pick a VP who they genuinely like and respect and enjoy spending time with because if they get elected, they will be spending a whole lot of time together. And another typical role of the VP is that of “attack dog” on the other candidate during the campaign—and with an opponent like Trump, this will be a key role.
Past picks
Walter Mondale announced that Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro would be his running mate during the 1984 Democratic National Convention to thunderous roars in the Moscone Center in San Francisco. While he was very clear that he chose her as the best candidate and not because she was a woman. 64 years after women had won the right to vote, Ferraro made a first dent in the White House glass ceiling and declared “If we can do this, we can do anything.” But this election ultimately belonged to Ronald Reagan, who won 49 states and another four years in office.
24 years later, (yes, it took another 24 years) Republican John McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. While many saw this as cynical ploy to gain female voters, she injected populist energy into McCain’s campaign and in some ways, was the precursor to Donald Trump’s populism. In this case, they lost to Obama’s unstoppable 2008 bid. This leads us to who is next and whether a third time will be a charm for a female VP.
Who’s in the running
At the top of most lists are the women who ran for president. Even if they didn’t win the nomination, they’ve built recognition at the national level. Senator Kamala Harris from California ticks off a lot of boxes. She’s both African American and Indian American, young (55 years old) and dynamic. Curiously, Biden did much better with African American voters than she did—but she could add energy to the campaign, is a deft fundraiser and could play the role of attack dog well. Harris proved her prowess in the role of attack dog when she went after Biden in one of the early debates. While the attack stung at the time, they have since made up and have developed a friendship. As this article is being written, Harris is widely considered the favorite based on comments from Biden advisors, allies and donors.
Amy Klobuchar is another contender because her moderate views align well with Biden and more importantly, has been successful winning campaigns in Minnesota, which is a red state. She’s certainly ready to step into the role of president but otherwise, there’s not a whole lot else she might add to his campaign. Elizabeth Warren topped a recent CBS News poll asking registered Democrats who they think Biden should pick. 36% chose her compared to Harris’ 19% and Klobuchar’s 13%. Of course, this decision is not subject to a vote, but it does show the public’s enthusiasm for her. The biggest argument for Warren is that she appeals to the Bernie Sanders supporters—although many complained that she should have left the race sooner. It is a compelling argument that she could unify the progressive wing of the party with the moderates. But her progressiveness could be a liability if it ends up clashing with Biden’s positions. Perhaps her biggest obstacle is the somewhat acrimonious relationship she has with Biden.
Other possibilities include Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who has shown her grit during the pandemic and dealing with Trump’s ire after she suggested that the federal government had blocked supplies to her state. Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto is also mentioned with frequency and as a Latina from the Southwest, she would represent quite a contrast to Biden. Another candidate who excites progressives is Stacey Abrams, a former member of the Georgia House of Representatives and African American who gained national visibility when she ran an impossible campaign for Georgia governor and nearly won. On a longer list, you can also find Florida Representative Val Demmings, Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
There has been considerable pressure to choose a woman of color. Notably from South Carolina Representative James Clyburn, who’s endorsement was key to Biden’s victory in that state which was a turning point for his campaign. There is a committee to draft Michelle Obama and while she would be a wildly popular choice and would have been a formidable force if she had run for the nomination, she has shown no interest in re-entering the political arena.
With an older, white, man at the helm of the party of diversity, choosing a female vice presidential candidate is a no-brainer. Given that internal party policy obliges all state and local committees to have gender balanced executive teams (for example, when I was the country chair of Democrats Abroad Spain, the vice chair was a man), it’s baffling that the party hasn’t imposed something similar on presidential candidates. Now that 2016 saw a female-male ticket and 2020 will see a male-female ticket, perhaps this will become the new normal.
This article was published in Spanish in esglobal.