Biden's running mate

[Schiff for Senate]

If you were Biden in 2020...
   a.) Would you make a pledge to choose a woman as your running mate?
   b.) Would you make a pledge to choose a person of colour as your running mate?
   c.) Who would you pick as your running mate?

[President Johnson]

To be honest, as much as I like Kamala, I would have picked Gretchen Whitmer. I would only have pledged to pick a woman.

[Woody]

To be honest, as much as I like Kamala, I would have picked Gretchen Whitmer. I would only have pledged to pick a woman.

Why? She's a polarizing figure, she hasn't even served 2 years as governor at that time (ladder climbing), and her accent would set back the ticket.

[Sir Mohamed]

Kamala Harris was the best possible choice he could have made. Experience, diversity and their previous dispute showed that Biden isn't one holding grudges.

I wouldn't have made any pledges ahead of the selection.

[Pink Panther]

If I were Biden, I would probably pledge to both a woman and a POC, since the base, who I desperately needed to turn out against Trump, were calling for those pledges. As for who I would choose, I would lean towards selecting Val Demings, since although she isn't Asian as well, along with not being as experienced as Harris, necessarily. However, Demings is what I'd consider more inspiring and not as condescending and off-putting than Harris, as what I have personally got from them speaking and their resumes.

[Utah Neolib]

To be honest, as much as I like Kamala, I would have picked Gretchen Whitmer. I would only have pledged to pick a woman.

Why? She's a polarizing figure, she hasn't even served 2 years as governor at that time (ladder climbing), and her accent would set back the ticket.

Why does anyone care about accents?

[Independents for George Santos]

This is a good question. Pre-election, my preferred choice for Biden's running mate was Tammy Duckworth (and I don't think the pledge was necessary, I think the choice of a woman or woman of colour would have spoken for itself) and I think she would fill the role of an international figure (i.e. Border Tsar or whatever it is Kamala has been assigned to do) better than Kamala has so far. The margins were narrow enough that if Kamala helped Black turnout at all she may have been what tipped the election, but I think Duckworth would have balanced that out with suburban voters with appeal as a veteran, Asian-American and more experienced legislator.

[If my soul was made of stone]

A lot of folk were hyping up the potential for Duckworth, but I think it would've been a bit too on-the-nose: Joe Biden and the Class 3 Senator from Illinois four years into their first term on a ticket together, gee whiz folks where have we seen this before? Most of the other main targets of speculation were a bit lacking in national profile to make much of an impact on the dynamics of the ticket, especially in an era where favorite son effects are increasingly irrelevant.

My personal hope was that the other Tammy in the Senate would get the nod, although given the fragility of the current majority it was probably for the best not to take someone with a record of overperforming in a close state from the chamber.

[President Johnson]

To be honest, as much as I like Kamala, I would have picked Gretchen Whitmer. I would only have pledged to pick a woman.

Why? She's a polarizing figure, she hasn't even served 2 years as governor at that time (ladder climbing), and her accent would set back the ticket.

She's only polarizing among MAGA cultists, which Harris is as well. From what I've read, Joe Biden had most "personal chemistry" with Whitmer, who seems like a real cool lady. Other presidential or vice presidential candidates had the same or less experience, so that's not really that much of a factor here. Also remember that Whitmer served in the state legislature for a long time and was Democratic leader. Furthermore, she was from a critical region and won her election in a Trump state by ten points.

If Whitmer ever decides to run for president once Joe Biden is done, she'll definitely be my first choice. Maybe unless T-Mac ever runs.

[brucejoel99]

If I were already sure that I was gonna end up choosing a woman to be my running-mate, then I'd still make the public pledge to do so because it was undeniably successful in accomplishing its immediate goal: overshadowing anything & everything that Bernie could've possibly said at the one-on-one debate on Mar. 15th. Similarly, as Biden didn't, I wouldn't pledge to necessarily choose a woman of color as my running mate, just because doing so would immediately close off the possibility of considering as many of the qualified potential options - one of whom I'd inevitably have to pick - as possible.

At the time of the Veepstakes, I was all-in on Warren, but in hindsight, Kamala was probably the best option. With margins of just 10K in AZ, 11K in GA, & 20K in WI, who knows how a different running-mate could've butterflied the outcome?

[Motorcity]

I really wanted Biden to pick Warren

But in hindsight, Harris was probably the best choice considering how close it was. Also Warren's senate seat would be up in the air

[perpetual_cynic]

a. No
b. No
c. Amy Klobuchar

I would have picked Amy Klobuchar simply because of her circumstantial relevance to the election. She is incredibly popular in Minnesota and would have translated over to nearby Rust Belt States, I think. Plus, she is widely seen as a moderate cementing gains in Georgia and Arizona.

[TDAS04]

I would have personally have decided on a woman, but I would have hesitated to make that announcement public.  I would have been open to women of all races and ethnicities.

I probably would have settled on Harris, but I like Klobuchar a lot.

[brucejoel99]

I would have picked Amy Klobuchar simply because of her circumstantial relevance to the election. She is incredibly popular in Minnesota and would have translated over to nearby Rust Belt States, I think. Plus, she is widely seen as a moderate cementing gains in Georgia and Arizona.

The perception that she failed as a prosecutor to hold Chauvin accountable rendered her a non-starter as a running-mate, which is why she withdrew herself from consideration as soon as all of that came to light. Aside from her not having really been liked by the progressive wing (which - despite all of the loud #RoseTwitter voices - did generally support Kamala's selection, & the support of which he couldn't afford to hamper in a significant way in the run-up to November), it simply would've been the worst possible optics for Biden - who owed his nomination to the Black community, another community whose support he couldn't afford to hamper in a significant way in the run-up to November - to still opt to select her after the Floyd murder. At the very least, selecting her likely wouldn't have provided much - if any - help in regards to increasing Black & minority turnout in such a state as GA, where a margin of just 11K votes ended up making all of the difference.

[perpetual_cynic]

I would have picked Amy Klobuchar simply because of her circumstantial relevance to the election. She is incredibly popular in Minnesota and would have translated over to nearby Rust Belt States, I think. Plus, she is widely seen as a moderate cementing gains in Georgia and Arizona.

The perception that she failed as a prosecutor to hold Chauvin accountable rendered her a non-starter as a running-mate, which is why she withdrew herself from consideration as soon as all of that came to light. Aside from her not having really been liked by the progressive wing (which - despite all of the loud #RoseTwitter voices - did generally support Kamala's selection, & the support of which he couldn't afford to hamper in a significant way in the run-up to November), it simply would've been the worst possible optics for Biden - who owed his nomination to the Black community, another community whose support he couldn't afford to hamper in a significant way in the run-up to November - to still opt to select her after the Floyd murder. At the very least, selecting her likely wouldn't have provided much - if any - help in regards to increasing Black & minority turnout in such a state as GA, where a margin of just 11K votes ended up making all of the difference.

Ahem-who else was criticized during her campaign for her work as a prosecutor/DA? (Harris) Look how that turned out. In addition, you forget that Black turnout had nothing to do with Harris, I 100% guarantee you. Black turnout for Biden was present in the primary in force well before Kamala Harris was the VP nominee. It was all due to Trump and Biden. That's why turnout was high among all groups. “After four years of a Trump presidency, people felt strongly that the country was going in the right or wrong direction and felt it was important to keep him in office or get him out,” UNC professor Heberlig said.

[brucejoel99]

I would have picked Amy Klobuchar simply because of her circumstantial relevance to the election. She is incredibly popular in Minnesota and would have translated over to nearby Rust Belt States, I think. Plus, she is widely seen as a moderate cementing gains in Georgia and Arizona.

The perception that she failed as a prosecutor to hold Chauvin accountable rendered her a non-starter as a running-mate, which is why she withdrew herself from consideration as soon as all of that came to light. Aside from her not having really been liked by the progressive wing (which - despite all of the loud #RoseTwitter voices - did generally support Kamala's selection, & the support of which he couldn't afford to hamper in a significant way in the run-up to November), it simply would've been the worst possible optics for Biden - who owed his nomination to the Black community, another community whose support he couldn't afford to hamper in a significant way in the run-up to November - to still opt to select her after the Floyd murder. At the very least, selecting her likely wouldn't have provided much - if any - help in regards to increasing Black & minority turnout in such a state as GA, where a margin of just 11K votes ended up making all of the difference.

Ahem-who else was criticized during her campaign for her work as a prosecutor/DA? (Harris) Look how that turned out. In addition, you forget that Black turnout had nothing to do with Harris, I 100% guarantee you. Black turnout for Biden was present in the primary in force well before Kamala Harris was the VP nominee. It was all due to Trump and Biden. That's why turnout was high among all groups. “After four years of a Trump presidency, people felt strongly that the country was going in the right or wrong direction and felt it was important to keep him in office or get him out,” UNC professor Heberlig said.

"Ahem," Kamala wasn't the (white) prosecutor whose office had literally opted to not charge Chauvin for engaging in police misconduct years before he'd go on to murder George Floyd. Optics matter. Moreover, Kamala was better placed than Klobuchar to turbocharge turnout among the Black voters who help to make up the Democratic base & the swing voters in rapidly diversifying suburbs across the country & more particularly in the Sun Belt. Pre- & post-VP selection polls bore this out. But nah, you're probably right: "Black turnout had nothing to do with Harris," despite the relevant polling directly contradicting such an assertion in its indication that Biden hadn't previously had as many Black voters locked up as he needed to in order to win in November by 43K votes, a.k.a. the literal electoral equivalent of just the skin of his teeth.

[perpetual_cynic]

I would have picked Amy Klobuchar simply because of her circumstantial relevance to the election. She is incredibly popular in Minnesota and would have translated over to nearby Rust Belt States, I think. Plus, she is widely seen as a moderate cementing gains in Georgia and Arizona.

The perception that she failed as a prosecutor to hold Chauvin accountable rendered her a non-starter as a running-mate, which is why she withdrew herself from consideration as soon as all of that came to light. Aside from her not having really been liked by the progressive wing (which - despite all of the loud #RoseTwitter voices - did generally support Kamala's selection, & the support of which he couldn't afford to hamper in a significant way in the run-up to November), it simply would've been the worst possible optics for Biden - who owed his nomination to the Black community, another community whose support he couldn't afford to hamper in a significant way in the run-up to November - to still opt to select her after the Floyd murder. At the very least, selecting her likely wouldn't have provided much - if any - help in regards to increasing Black & minority turnout in such a state as GA, where a margin of just 11K votes ended up making all of the difference.

Ahem-who else was criticized during her campaign for her work as a prosecutor/DA? (Harris) Look how that turned out. In addition, you forget that Black turnout had nothing to do with Harris, I 100% guarantee you. Black turnout for Biden was present in the primary in force well before Kamala Harris was the VP nominee. It was all due to Trump and Biden. That's why turnout was high among all groups. “After four years of a Trump presidency, people felt strongly that the country was going in the right or wrong direction and felt it was important to keep him in office or get him out,” UNC professor Heberlig said.

"Ahem," Kamala wasn't the (white) prosecutor whose office had literally opted to not charge Chauvin for engaging in police misconduct years before he'd go on to murder George Floyd. Optics matter. Moreover, Kamala was better placed than Klobuchar to turbocharge turnout among the Black voters who help to make up the Democratic base & the swing voters in rapidly diversifying suburbs across the country & more particularly in the Sun Belt. Pre- & post-VP selection polls bore this out. But nah, you're probably right: "Black turnout had nothing to do with Harris," despite the relevant polling directly contradicting such an assertion in its indication that Biden hadn't previously had as many Black voters locked up as he needed to in order to win in November by 43K votes, a.k.a. the literal electoral equivalent of just the skin of his teeth.

The same poll you pointed out said he received a boost from Hispanics after he picked her, we all see how that turned out. Harris was accused of putting Black offenders in jail for non-violent drug charges. The counties in Georgia were turning out because of Stacey Abrams and her turnout initiatives. Your claim holds no water because turnout was extremely high in the Senate elections succeeding the elections in January and because those counties (Cobb, Gwinett, Forsyth, Henry) were trending hard to the left prior to 2020. It is a complete reverse migration process and demographic shift. The NYT, Forbes, Reuters, NBC News, Politico credit her with the results in Georgia.

[ultraviolet]

a) probably not publicly but I would pick a woman
b) no
c) I’d choose Whitmer cause I’m biased but Harris is good too

Actually I think CCM would be my first choice if she didn’t withdraw herself

[South Dakota Democrat]

To be honest, as much as I like Kamala, I would have picked Gretchen Whitmer. I would only have pledged to pick a woman.

Why? She's a polarizing figure, she hasn't even served 2 years as governor at that time (ladder climbing), and her accent would set back the ticket.

Weren't you supposed to leave Atlas for a year?

[Schiff for Senate]

I initially felt Roy Cooper was a good choice for Biden's running mate, since he'd deliver North Carolina to the ticket (he won reelection in 2020 by 4.5%, overperforming Biden in NC by nearly 6%). When I think about it now, though, I feel like he might cost Biden Georgia. It would also hurt turnout if the Democratic Party nominated two white men (something it hasn't done since 2004).

   If I were Biden I wouldn't make any pledges about who to support, though I would likely pick a woman and/or someone of color as my running mate. First of all, it limits your options, and secondly, it gives the base high expectations and no "wiggle room" in case you change your mind. If, on the other hand, you don't make any such promise, you can choose anyone you want, and if you do end up picking a woman / a person of colour, you boost support with the base, whereas if you pledge to do so anyway, they expect you to do so and you don't have any choice anymore.

  I still think Kamala Harris was a weak pick, though - Biden could have chosen a far stronger candidate from a swing state (even Stacey Abrams would be a better pick since she'd ensure that Georgia votes blue). Harris alienated some voters because she is a former prosecutor, and aliented voters in her homestate of California with her positions on foreign policy: despite (or perhaps because of) Kamala being on the ballot, and the Democratic swing nationally, California actually shifted marginally more Republican.

 When all is said and done, I think I would choose someone like Rep. Fredrica Wilson: a woman from a swing state (Florida) who is also a person of color, and who may also offset the gains Trump made in Miami in 2020. I feel like she would patch up a lot of holes and possibly even flip Florida Democratic - she comes from a Miami-based district and would likely stop Democratic bleeding in Florida by limiting the number of Clinton-Trump voters in Miami.

[Kleine Scheiße]

i would have announced kamala as my running mate before even asking her to run with me

[Motorcity]

i would have announced kamala as my running mate before even asking her to run with me

Yes, because presurring a woman to do a job without asking her is a good way to win over college educated suburban women...

[Ferguson97]

I would have picked Kamala Harris, but would not have made a pledge.

[GregTheGreat657]

To be honest, as much as I like Kamala, I would have picked Gretchen Whitmer. I would only have pledged to pick a woman.

Why? She's a polarizing figure, she hasn't even served 2 years as governor at that time (ladder climbing), and her accent would set back the ticket.

If anything, Whitmer's accent would have helped the Dems in the Rust Belt. Midwestern accents aren't super offensive, so it wouldn't have hurt the Dems

[Leroy McPherson fan]

I would have picked Henry Cuellar.

In hindsight, that actually would have helped him.