As the United States presidential race heats up, former Vice President, Joe Biden, has said that he would pick a woman to be his vice-presidential running mate. READ ALSO: The U.S. is wronging Nigeria and the Energy Industry
Speaking during the CNN-Univision debate in Washington, DC, Biden said: “If I’m elected president, my Cabinet, my administration will look like the country, and I commit that I will, in fact, appoint a, pick a woman to be vice president.
Biden also stated: “There are a number of women who are qualified to be president tomorrow. I would pick a woman to be my vice president.”
The comments come as Biden is seeing a surge in the presidential race over Senator Bernie Sanders, just as he seeks to broaden his appeal and unify the Democratic Party.
Similarly, opposition, Sanders, said that “in all likelihood,” he would pick a woman to be his vice president when pressed at the debate.
Sanders said: “For me, it’s not just nominating a woman.
“It is making sure that we have a progressive woman, and there are progressive women out there, so my very strong tendency is to move in that direction.”
Women, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, California Sen. Kamala Harris and author, Marianne Williamson, who launched presidential campaigns in the run-up to the election, have since dropped out of the race.
The 77-year-old politician, who served as the 47th vice president of the United States from 2009 to 2017, expressed his desire to choose one of his former rivals, including Klobuchar, Harris and Warren as running mate, with both Harris and Klobuchar already endorsing Biden for president.
Furthermore, Biden mentioned former Georgia gubernatorial candidate, Stacey Abrams; New Hampshire, Sen. Maggie Hassan; New Hampshire, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and former acting Attorney General, Sally Yates, as a potential vice presidential pick.
He said that in the past that he would prefer to pick someone “of colour and/or a different gender” as his running mate but has, until Sunday, refrained from committing to picking a woman as his vice president.
The US has never had a woman president or vice president. Only two women have ever been vice-presidential nominees for a major party- former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, in 2008 and former New York Rep., Geraldine Ferraro, in 1984.
