More than one black woman will be vetted to become Joe Biden’s running mate, according to the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee.
Biden acknowledged in a pretaped interview with MSNBC Saturday the push for him to pick a black woman as his vice president after vowing to include a woman on the ticket during the last primary debate, which was in March.
“I really do understand that, Al, for real. And that’s why I can assure you that of the more than a dozen women that they’re taking an initial look at, there are significantly more than one black woman is going to be considered by this group,” the two-term vice president and Delaware’s 36-year senator told network host Al Sharpton.
Potential candidates, including failed 2018 Democratic Georgia gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, have publicly said choosing a black woman as his No. 2 would be politically savvy, given the importance of the demographic to forming a winning coalition in November’s general election against President Trump. Other contenders, such as Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, have skirted around the issue when asked.
Biden’s MSNBC appearance is his second on the outlet in as many days, having used a spot during Friday’s Morning Joe episode to address allegations of sexual assault and harassment leveled at him by Tara Reade, who was a Senate aide to him in 1993.
On Saturday, Biden reiterated his denials regarding Reade’s accusations, saying, “Unequivocally, it never happened.” Reade, 56, alleges Biden forcibly kissed her and penetrated her with his fingers, as well as inappropriately touched her hair and neck.
The Democratic Party’s next standard-bearer also declined to respond to the Trump campaign’s assertion that Democrats were applying a different standard to Biden and Reade than they did to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and his accusers during Kavanaugh’s confirmation process in 2018.
“Women have a right to be heard, and the press should rigorously investigate the claims like these, and I’d always uphold those principles. But in the end, in every case, the truth is what matters, and in this case, the truth is these claims are false,” he said.
Reade says she lodged a contemporaneous complaint with the Senate about Biden allegedly sexually harassing her, but not recording the assault. She doesn’t remember the name of the office to which she filed the paperwork, but knows she didn’t receive a copy of it. Biden on Friday asked the secretary of the Senate to search for the document and to make it public if her team can find it, noting none of his other staffers at the time were told about Reade’s issues with him.
