Joe Biden refused to address calls for him to pick a woman of color to be his vice president, or to rule out Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, in the wake of civil unrest due to the police-involved killing of black man George Floyd in Minneapolis this week.
“Look, what we’re talking about today has nothing to do with my running for president or who I’d pick as a vice president,” the former vice president and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said on MSNBC Friday when asked if renewed scrutiny of Klobuchar’s record has disqualified her from being his running mate.
Liberal activists said this week that under the circumstances, the Minnesota senator should be disqualified from being Biden’s running mate. Some criticized her statement on Floyd’s killing because it did not mention his name or that police officers were responsible. Others pointed to her prosecutorial record as Hennepin County attorney when she declined to bring charges in other police-involved killings.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina, who has voiced support for Biden picking a black woman to be his running mate, said Friday that it was “tough timing” for Klobuchar.
Biden also dodged questions about Democrats’ concerns that he build a racially balanced ticket by picking a woman of color to be his running mate in light of the unrest sparked by Floyd.
“I’ve already said I’m going to pick a Supreme Court justice who is a woman of color,” Biden said. “I’ve already said my cabinet will be full of people of women of color. Men and women of color. I also already said that there are women of color under consideration. That is not the only criteria to determine who will be the vice president of the United States of America that I’ll choose as a running mate. It is just beginning the process. I guarantee you, there are more — there’s more than one African American woman being considered for vice president. I promise you that.”
He added that he does not want the women under consideration to be “in the position where I acknowledge that they are under consideration, and then if they are the ones that don’t get picked, they wonder how that will impact them.”
Biden recalled being considered to be Obama’s vice presidential pick. “It’s not all positive in terms of your being considered because you’re qualified, and you don’t get picked, why?” he said.
