As Joe Biden begins scrutinizing and vetting potential running mates, a former 2020 Democratic presidential rival, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, is emerging as seemingly safe and reliable.
Doing so would go against the wishes of many party activists who are demanding that Biden, vice president under President Barack Obama and now the presumptive Democratic nominee, choose a black woman or vocal liberal. Biden has pledged to choose a woman as his running mate, and Klobuchar would help him keep moderate voters in his fold — a crucial voting bloc in a tight race against President Trump.
Klobuchar, 59, ran a presidential campaign much like Biden’s during this cycle’s primary. Touting a message of moderation and bipartisan cooperation, the former Hennepin County district attorney sought to contrast herself with left-wing and socialist rivals such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Any running mate’s influence on a presidential race is debatable. But Biden’s age, 77, means that voters are likely to give his second-in-command more scrutiny than usual. Nor has Biden promised to run for two terms, saying he’d revisit the question after evaluating his own health down the road. His vice president would likely be the natural successor.
On the issues, Biden and Klobuchar were almost entirely in line. Healthcare, which emerged as the largest topic of debate during this year’s primary, was where the two became the most vocal critics of “Medicare for all” proposals, which would effectively banish private health insurance in favor of a government-run program.
That area of agreement gives Klobuchar an advantage over many of her competitors in the veepstakes. Both Warren’s and California Sen. Kamala Harris’s shifting positions on the issue mean the two aren’t reliable advocates for Biden’s proposal to expand the Affordable Care Act with a “public option.”
Klobuchar can also cite her perfect record in elections — other than falling short in the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination contest. Her margins of victory in some Minnesota districts during her Senate races are often two or three times more than Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton managed to get in the 2016 election — an important factor since the Trump campaign is targeting Minnesota after a narrow loss there four years ago.
“I’m one of two left from the Midwest, but I am the one that brings receipts. I have won every race, every place, every time. I have not just won by a little bit. I have won in all the rural congressional districts, Republican districts,” Klobuchar said at a February campaign stop in Nevada.
Klobuchar could help shore up many of the white working-class Democrats whom Clinton lost in 2016, something other Democrats have yet to show they are capable of doing.
Warren’s voters, for example, were mostly concentrated among the white and well-educated. Democrats don’t have to worry about those voters potentially staying home on Election Day: Most self-identify as committed Democrats.
Other potential running mates, such as Harris or 2018 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, a former state lawmaker, have touted their ability to win over minority voters, but there’s little evidence Biden needs any assistance there. During this year’s primaries, he performed better with black voters in some districts and states than Obama in the 2008 primary season.
Some polls even had Harris behind Warren in states where black voters make up a majority of the electorate, such as South Carolina. Likewise, Abrams was unable to win a statewide election in Georgia, where a significant portion of voters is black.
