Joe Biden wants vice-president who won’toutshine him

A veteran congresswoman with a strong personal bond with Joe Biden is rising fast in the race to become his running-mate.

Karen Bass has indicated she would not use the US vice-presidency as a springboard for the White House. Picture. AFP

A veteran congresswoman with a strong personal bond with Joe Biden is rising fast in the race to become his running mate for ­November’s election as more polls gave the Democrat challenger a healthy lead over President ­Donald Trump.

Karen Bass, a former speaker of the California state assembly who was elected to congress 10 years ago, is seen as an emerging prospect partly because she has indicated that she would not use the role of vice-president as a springboard to the White House.

At the age of 66 but with a low media profile, she offers Mr Biden a stark contrast to better-known names under consideration, including senators Elizabeth Warren, 71, and Kamala Harris, 55, a fellow Californian, both of whom ran for the presidential nomination.

Mr Biden, 77, announced that he would choose a female running mate and there has been pressure in the party for him to pick a black woman given the protests over ­racial injustice after the death of George Floyd. There is also a ­belief that Mr Biden would be a one-term president, putting his vice-president in pole position for a run for the White House in 2024 and making his choice of running mate even more significant than usual.

Ms Bass, who is divorced, told The Atlantic that she “cannot envision” running for president in 2024 or 2028.

The head of the Congressional Black Caucus, she has a close ­affinity with Mr Biden through personal loss — she spoke at an event with him about her struggle to come to terms with the death of her only daughter and son-in-law in a car crash. The former vice-president lost his first wife and one-year-old daughter in a car ­accident in 1972.

“We both just shared that you learn how to get up in the morning,” she told The Atlantic.

“You learn how to live, but your life is fundamentally changed, dramatically changed.”

Campaign advisers believe that Ms Bass has other qualities that might be attractive to Democratic and general voters alike, as well as Mr Biden.

Her low profile means there is no danger of her overshadowing the candidate, unlike some of the frontrunners, while she is seen as expert at reaching consensus with Republicans, counting Kevin ­McCarthy, the minority House leader, among her friends from their days making political deals in California. This could make her a less divisive figure to floating voters than other potential choices.

At the same time she has pulled off the trick of satisfying both the moderate and radical wings of the Democratic party. Ilhan Omar, 37, a Somali-born congresswoman demonised by Republicans, has called her “a dear friend”.

Other rival black female candidates include Susan Rice, 55, a former UN ambassador and national security adviser to president Barack Obama; Val Demings, 63, a Florida congresswoman and former police chief; and Keisha Lance Bottoms, 50, the mayor of Atlanta.

James Clyburn, 80, the senior black congressman from South Carolina who was instrumental in Mr Biden seizing the nomination when he backed him to win the state primary, has said that Ms Bass has three big things in her favour: her “legislative acumen” honed passing laws in California and the House; the fact that she “is no stranger to foreign affairs”; and “the biggest thing of all”, that Mr Biden would not need to worry about her “one-upping him” because “she has no aspirations” to become president.

Two polls on Monday put Mr Biden in a strong lead over Mr Trump. Fox News put Mr Biden on 49 per cent and Mr Trump on 41 per cent, and ABC/Washington Post had Mr Biden up by 54 to 44 per cent among probable voters.

The Times