In the last primary debate, Joe Biden pledged that his vice-presidential pick will be a woman if he is the Democratic nominee. And after Biden’s sweep of Florida, Illinois and Arizona, it is seeming like he is going to be looking for that running mate very soon.
We don’t know exactly who Biden is considering, but we do have a general idea. Let’s get to know the women coming in most consistently on all the top five candidates for VP lists:
Stacy Abrams
Stacy Abrams became a rising star in the Democratic Party after running for Governor of Georgia in 2018. She was the minority leader of the Georgia State House of Representatives and has dedicated her career to civic engagement. Abrams works to register people of color to vote in Georgia, registering more than 200,000 people for the 2016 election. She is also is an award-winning author who published eight romance novels under a pen name.
Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Warren has been a senator from Massachusetts since 2013. Before she was a senator, she was a law professor at Harvard University. She is a progressive, and while in the Senate she has worked for consumer protection and better welfare programs, being very outspoken about work that still needs to be done and how we can better our country. Warren ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 election, suspending her campaign in March.
Amy Klobuchar
Amy Klobuchar is the first woman to be elected to represent the state of Minnesota in the United States Senate. She is a moderate, and while in the Senate she has worked hard to expand education and job opportunities as well as come up with bipartisan solutions to many of today’s most pressing issues. In 2016, she passed more legislation than any other senator. She also ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 election, suspending her campaign in March.
Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris is one of two African American women to serve in the senate. She was the Attorney General for the state of California, and now she represents California in the U.S. Senate, becoming the state’s third female senator. While in the Senate, she has supported single-payer healthcare, better paths to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, a ban on assault rifles and worked for better solutions to many contentious issues. She ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 election, suspending her campaign in December.
Gretchen Whitmer
Gretchen Whitmer is the Governor of Michigan. She has previously served in the Michigan State House of Representatives and Senate, becoming Michigan Senate’s first female leader. In state government, she spoke out about anti-abortion bills and the damaging effects they could have. As governor, Whitmer has focused on creating better healthcare and better infrastructure. This year, she was chosen to give the Democratic response to the 2020 State of the Union address.
The key to picking a good vice president is how well they work with the candidate. At the end of the day, the vice president needs to be someone the candidate trusts, can govern with and would ask for advice from. But running mates can also score the candidate votes in different states, and age groups and other demographics. So, the candidate for vice president is a strategic pick as much as it is a governance pick.
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