Biden’s VP pick: a shrinking list of top contenders
The women vying for selection as Democratic running mate for the November 3 election.
Joe Biden, who leads President Donald Trump in most polls, has committed himself to choosing a female running mate and is expected to announce his pick soon.
Now, in the wake of the historic wave of black anger against police violence and racism unleashed by the death of George Floyd, pressure has grown on the 77-year-old Democrat to choose an African American as his running mate.
Here’s the list of top contenders:
Tammy Duckworth
The 52-year-old senator from Illinois would be a groundbreaking pick on several fronts: a double amputee, a new mother and the first Asian-American on the presidential ticket of one of the two major parties.
A former lieutenant colonel in the US Army, Duckworth in 2004 was almost killed in Iraq when her helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. She lost both legs and some use of her right arm.
Duckworth went on to leadership roles in veterans affairs and was elected to the House of Representatives in 2012, four years later winning the Senate seat once held by Obama. In 2018 she gave birth to her second child and became the first senator to bring a baby to the Senate floor.
While she has less of a national profile than some other contenders, advocates say she has shown effectiveness as a politician, pushing through legislation that includes a program to support military veterans who own businesses. American University professor David Barker says Duckworth could bring advantages to Biden as a “war hero” who is “relatable to a broader swath of the electorate”.
-
Kamala Harris
“My mother would often tell me that if you’re the first to do something, make sure you’re not the last,” the 55-year-old California senator liked to say during her unsuccessful run for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Throughout her career, this daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants has compiled a long list of firsts. She now hopes to add the distinction of being the first black running mate in a major party and, possibly, the first female vice-president of the US.
Harris grew up in Oakland, in the progressive California of the 1960s, proud of her parents’ struggle for civil rights. She knows Biden well and was close to his son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015, aged 46.
But she surprised viewers — and Biden — by attacking him during a Democratic primary debate last year over his racial policies in the 1970s, including his opposition to mandatory school bussing to achieve racial desegregation. She recalled being one of the black students bussed to schools in white neighbourhoods in a program intended to give them greater opportunity. After dropping out of the race in December, she threw her support to Biden in March.
-
Susan Rice
A tough, wonkish diplomat, Rice would offer Biden a trusted hand at foreign policy but has never been tested as a politician herself.
The African-American daughter of two prominent public servants, Rice, 55, grew up in Washington and won a prestigious Rhodes scholarship to Oxford.
She is known for her mastery of policy detail and her warm working relationships with both Biden and former president Barack Obama. She served Obama as national security adviser and ambassador to the UN, where she had spirited clashes with the Russian and Chinese ambassadors.
If Biden picked her, Republicans would be sure to revive the deadly 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, for which Rice became the reluctant public face, ultimately ending her hopes of succeeding Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.
In 1994, Rice was also part of a US policy of inaction during the genocide in Rwanda, a decision that would haunt her and contribute to her advocacy for a forceful intervention in 2011 in Libya, which remains in chaos. Rice would be an unusual pick, given her lack of background in domestic affairs. However, she has campaigned for several Democratic candidates and has pointedly criticised Trump over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and protests for racial equality.
-
Karen Bass
Relatively unknown despite a long career in the California state assembly and the US congress, Karen Bass has emerged in recent days as a surprising member of Biden’s shortlist for running mate.
Her reputation as a competent, hard-working but understated member of the House of Representatives could hold special appeal for Biden.
She has said she would not be interested in a 2024 presidential run if Biden was elected and decided to serve a single term, which could position her as the same sort of faithful right-hand helper that he was to Obama.
At 66, Bass has served in the house since 2011. She heads the Congressional Black Caucus and has proposed police reform legislation bearing the name of George Floyd, the African-American who died under the knee of a Minneapolis policeman.
But her strongly left-leaning positions could make her a choice target for Republicans. A 2016 statement she issued on the death of Fidel Castro could come back to haunt her among Florida’s strongly anti-Castro emigre community: “The passing of the Comandante en Jefe is a great loss to the people of Cuba,” she wrote in a statement that is still posted on her congressional website. Asked about that recently Bass walked the statement back, saying, “It’s certainly something that I would not say again,” while adding that she strongly supported the Cuban people.
Bass shares a sense of deep personal tragedy with Biden, having lost a daughter and son-in-law in a 2006 car crash.
-
Elizabeth Warren
Backed by enthusiastic supporters, the progressive senator from Massachusetts was for a time seen as a favourite in the Democratic primaries, but after several disappointing showings Warren threw in the sponge in early March.
Rather than throw her support to like-minded progressive Bernie Sanders, she allowed the suspense to build before finally declaring her support for Biden in April.
Despite some sharp exchanges during the primary season, Warren has since campaigned actively for her former centrist rival.
With this outspoken critic of Wall Street at his side, Biden could attract more left-leaning voters but also African-Americans, who in surveys rate her higher than they do Kamala Harris.
But at 71, Warren may be ill-placed to serve as a successor. And her resolutely leftist policies could scare off moderates and feed into arguments from the Trump campaign that Biden is the “puppet” of a “radical left”. Trump has seemed to relish attacking Warren’s exaggerated past claim to Native American ancestry.
A Biden-Warren ticket could hand Republicans a precious seat in the Senate because, in the event of a win, the Republican governor of Massachusetts would decide who fills her seat.
Or a surprise pick
Other names in circulation include governors Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, and Florida representative Val Demings. But Biden’s campaign team may decide to announce an unexpected pick, guaranteeing a flurry of intense attention.
AFP
Selflessness of dad who knows true pain
Israelis whose families were murdered by Palestinian terrorists released as part of the hostage exchange have said it was a ‘difficult price to pay’ but necessary to ensure loved ones could be reunited.
US urged to release funds for Myanmar
The Australian former special economic adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi has urged the Trump administration to release Myanmar’s frozen reserve funds to help finance the democratic opposition.