Stacey Abrams Has Been Calling Dem Leadership, Begging To Be VP

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has ramped up her efforts to become former Vice President Joe Biden’s running mate, calling Democratic leadership begging them to tell Biden to put her on the ticket, according to Politico.

Joe Biden said last week that he plans on ramping up his search for a running mate this week and will be holding final interviews with a number of candidates, likely to include Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Kamala Harris (D-CA), who will appear with Biden on Tuesday in a livestream interview. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer was said to be in the running, though a recent spate of bad press, largely the result of her mis-handling of the coronavirus pandemic, has likely jeopardized her bid.

Biden has already pledged to run with a woman — a pledge he made back in a March debate against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the hopes that it would improve his status among women, who were still clinging to Warren. The decision came well before the coronavirus hit its crescendo, leaving some of the panemdic’s more obvious Democratic heroes, like New York governor Andrew Cuomo, out of the running.

Politico reports that Democrat leaders are pressuring Biden to select a woman of color, in part as a way of “thanking” minority voters who pushed Biden over the top in the South Carolina primary and on Super Tuesday, allowing him to pull well ahead of Sanders, and handing him a path to the nomination that seemed nearly out of reach in December.