In the months leading up to the Democratic Convention, former vice president Joe Biden was in the midst of choosing among a group of women who could potentially be his running mate. In a recent interview, Biden revealed that he did not feel pressured in choosing a Black woman to become his running mate for the November elections.
Over the weekend, Biden, along with his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, held their first joint interview with ABC. The former vice president shared how he came to deciding that Harris was going to be his running mate. When pressed on whether he felt pressured to choose a Black woman to become his vice president, Biden said he did not. Biden committed to choosing a woman for his running mate but did not commit to choosing a Black woman despite having faced constant pressure from activist groups.
“No I didn’t feel pressure to select a Black woman. But I – what I do think and what I’ve said it before, and you’ve heard me say it. I’ve probably said it on your show with you, is that the government should look like the people, look like the country,” said Biden. “Fifty-one percent of the people in this country are women. As that old expression goes, women hold up half the sky, and in order to be able to succeed, you’ve got to be dealt in across the board, and no matter what you say, you cannot, I cannot understand and fully appreciate what it means to walk in her shoes, to be an African American woman, with a Indian American background, child of immigrants.”
Harris is the first Black woman and South Asian woman to become part of a major party ticket.
Meanwhile, former first lady, secretary of state, and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had some advice for Biden as he faces Donald Trump in November. Speaking on Showtime’s “The Circus,” Clinton said that Trump would likely try and go after absentee voting in order to get reelected.
Clinton recalled her own experience during the 2016 elections, when she won the popular vote by three million votes, yet lost the electoral college to Trump. Clinton stressed that Biden should not concede, especially if the gap between him and Trump would be narrow. “Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances because I think this is going to drag out.”