Bernie Sanders has promised to push Joe Biden to the political left on policy but wants to give the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee space to choose his own running mate.
The Vermont senator, Biden’s last White House rival, said Monday he was trying to steer clear of veepstakes speculation because it was a “personal decision. It’s not just an ideological decision.”
“That is an issue I have kind of stayed away from,” he told the Washington Post, citing the need for trust between Biden and his understudy.
Sanders’s comments will give Biden some breathing room as the two-term vice president faces mounting and competing pressures to select either a minority or a more progressive woman for his ticket ahead of November’s general election. There isn’t an obvious candidate who satisfies both criteria.
Sanders was specifically asked Monday about Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s credentials to become Biden’s No. 2 after she eagerly put her hand up for the role.
“Elizabeth is an outstanding United States senator. I think she’d be a great choice if that’s somebody that Biden feels comfortable with,” he said of his economic populist ally. “It’s a very personal decision, not quite like getting married, but it is somebody you’re gonna have to feel very, very comfortable with. And a lot of that is personal chemistry.”
Biden last week formed a committee to search for the 2020 Democratic vice presidential nominee, the results of which are likely to be revealed before the convention in mid-August.
Sanders, who didn’t rule out running for the presidency a third time, used the interview to push for vote-by-mail measures to be introduced federally and by the states in preparation for the fall fight. At the same time, he urged his former supporters to help Democrats in their battle to reclaim the White House from President Trump because their “grassroots movement must continue.”
Sanders also weighed in on allegations leveled at Biden by a former Senate aide that he forcibly kissed and penetrated her with his fingers on Capitol Hill in 1993. He said that people “have got to listen to … and respect” Biden’s denials as well as Tara Reade’s accusations, leaving it up to Delaware’s 36-year senator to release documentation from his time in Congress.
