Biden's next big decision: Picking a running mate

With the 2020 race for president now set, Joe Biden faces the most important decision of his five-decade political career: choosing a vice president.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee expects to name a committee to vet potential running mates this week, according to three Democrats with knowledge of the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans.

Biden, a former vice president himself, has committed to picking a woman and told donors this week that his team has discussed naming a choice well ahead of the Democratic convention in August.

Selecting a running mate is always critical for a presidential candidate. But it's an especially urgent calculation for the 77-year-old Biden, who, if he wins, would be the oldest American president in history.

The decision carries added weight amid the coronavirus pandemic, which, beyond its death toll, threatens to devastate the world economy and define a prospective Biden administration.

Biden has already committed to choosing a woman but he faces pressure on multiple other fronts, explains AP political reporter Bill Barrow.

"He says things like, I want someone who's simpatico, who sort of reflects his governing approach. But there are also considerations about balancing the ticket in other ways. Biden's a 77 year old white man. Younger voters are a little more skeptical or certainly unenthusiastic. He's trying to build bridges to progressives," Barrow says.

Biden has offered plenty of hints. He's said he can easily name 12 to 15 women who meet his criteria, but would likely seriously consider anywhere from six to 11 candidates. He's given no indication of whether he'll look to the Senate, where he spent six terms, to governors or elsewhere.

Some Biden advisers said the campaign has heard from many Democrats who want a woman of color. Black women helped rescue Biden's campaign after an embarrassing start in predominately white Iowa and New Hampshire. Yet there's no firm agreement that Biden must go that route.

Biden has regularly praised California Sen. Kamala Harris, a former rival who endorsed him in March and campaigned for him.

He's also spoken positively of Stacey Abrams, who narrowly missed becoming the first African American female governor in U.S. history when she lost the 2018 Georgia governor's race.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is Democrats' only nonwhite female governor. Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has reportedly vouched for his state's Latina senator, Catherine Cortez Masto. Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth is a veteran of Thai heritage who lost limbs in combat.

Biden could go beyond Washington to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, one of the three Great Lakes states that delivered Trump his Electoral College majority in 2016.

Barrow says in the end, Biden is looking for a running mate with whom he can share a deep connection like what he experienced with former President Barack Obama.

"From Biden's perspective, he knows he can't guarantee replicating that kind of relationship that he said Obama had, but he wants to pick someone that he believes could at least grow into that with him as a governing partner," Barrow says.

(Image Credit: AP)