Who could Sanders pick as running mate? Here are options — and most are women of color
With the Democratic primary field narrowing to two front-runners, many are wondering who Sen. Bernie Sanders could pick as his running mate if he beats former Vice President Joe Biden to take the nomination.
Sanders hasn’t given a short list of who he would choose to run with him in the general election, but that hasn’t stopped pundits and his dedicated followers from debating the options for the best match.
There are some obvious well-known names like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who just dropped out of the race, or Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who is still running for the nomination despite low poll numbers and not receiving many delegates so far. But there are other names that are less recognizable, including former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, seen by many as a rising star in the party, and Nina Turner, the national co-chair for his campaign.
The longtime senator from Vermont did drop some clues about his thinking in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle just before Super Tuesday. He told the newspaper that he would pick a running mate who agreed with his Medicare for All proposal to create a single-payer health system run by the government.
He also said he would pick a partner who agreed with him ideologically, the paper reports.
“We will pick somebody who knows the experience of working families in this country, who has a history of fighting for those families, and somebody whose politics are similar to mine,” Sanders told the Chronicle.
When asked about a potential unity ticket between he and Biden, Sanders signaled that the eventual Democratic nominee would have to choose a vice president with “a little bit more diversity,” Newsweek reported.
“One old white guy is probably one too many for some,” he said, according to the outlet.
When Warren dropped out of the race Thursday, many looked to her as a top choice to join Sanders on the ticket. The Massachusetts senator has similar politics and lots of practice on the campaign trail. But, the Washington Post reported recently, if Warren left her Senate seat it would be up to the Republican governor of Massachusetts to make his own pick to fill the seat.
According to The New Republic, “Whenever the question is posed on social media, many of Sanders’s most fervent supporters regularly offer two names: Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator who now co-chairs the Sanders campaign and has been one of his most prominent surrogates, and Representative Tulsi Gabbard.” Both are also women of color.
Turner is a former Ohio state senator.
“Turner has been one of Sanders’ most prominent national surrogates and a trusted adviser. Because she’s black, she’s also been able to help bridge the gap between Sanders and the black voters who rejected him in 2016,” Time Magazine reported last week.
Abrams, also a black woman, narrowly lost the 2018 gubernatorial election in Georgia. She is seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, according to Politico. She served as the minority leader in the Georgia state house before deciding to run for governor.
If Sanders wins the nomination, Abrams could help him win over voters in the South where the senator has not done well against Joe Biden in the primaries. Abrams could also help Biden and Sanders in their effort to flip Georgia blue in a presidential election for the first time since 1996.
One last name, again a woman of color, is California Rep. Barbara Lee. She has the distinction of being “the only member of Congress to have voted against the 2001 resolution authorizing the use of force after September 11, 2001,” The New Republic Reports.
“But her leadership on foreign policy aside, Lee, like Abrams, would not be the safest steward of the Sanders agenda. A year ago, she endorsed Senator Kamala Harris for the nomination,” The New Republic said.
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Who could Sanders pick as running mate? Here are options — and most are women of color."
