Joe Biden is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee vying to take on President Donald Trump in November, and the question is, who will be his running mate?
During a virtual fundraiser event on Wednesday, the former vice president said on vetting a running mate, “We’re in the process of deciding the basic cut — about whether or not they really want it. Are they comfortable? They’ve asked a lot of questions.”
He also pointed to August 1 as the date he hopes to select his running mate.
Biden continued to note that he believes whoever he chooses should be “somebody who in fact is simpatico with me, both in terms of personality as well as substance.”
“That means they don’t have to agree with me on everything, but they have to have the same basic approach to how we handle the economy and how we handle everything,” he added.
“I want to make sure that … whoever I have has some qualities that I don’t possess as well as is willing to, in fact, tell me the truth but also do it in a way that is between the two of us, between her and me, so that they can, in fact, be completely candid with me because I want to have people around me that have strengths and capacities I don’t.”
Wednesday’s event was hosted by former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who was part of the initial long list of people running for the Democratic Party’s nomination in 2020.
Biden has vowed to pick a woman as his vice presidential pick. However, during a recent CNN interview on Wednesday when asked if he would commit to picking a woman of color, he did not commit to it.
“Look, I’m not going to get into that now because we haven’t gotten there yet,” Biden said. “There are women of color under consideration and there are women from every part of the country under consideration.”
“But I’m not making that commitment. I’m making that judgment after, in fact, this group goes through interviewing all these people and they do the background checks.”
Biden also noted that the background checks have not started yet and would not go into detail on the vetting process.
Watch Biden’s interview below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6PAZIGp8BM
Among those speculated to be on Biden’s list of potential running mates include Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), among others.