2020 Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden committed to picking a female running mate if nominated to challenge President Donald Trump in the general election this fall.
“I commit that I will, in fact, pick a woman to be vice president,” Biden said in Sunday’s CNN and Univision Democratic debate with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. “There are a number of women qualified to be president tomorrow. I would pick a woman to be my vice president.”
NEW: Joe Biden says if elected he will choose a woman to be vice president pic.twitter.com/eq38FVbMau
— Axios (@axios) March 16, 2020
Biden also pledged to make his first Supreme Court nominee a woman of color and said he would take gender into account when making Cabinet appointments.
“My Cabinet, my administration, will look like the country,” Biden said.
Sanders stopped shy of making the same commitment to select a female running mate but said that if nominated, he too would pick a woman “in all likelihood.”
The new promise from Biden comes as the former vice president holds a commanding lead over his last standing rival in the race for the 1,991 delegates needed to clinch the nomination in Milwaukee this summer. Biden has 890 delegates to Sanders’ 736. Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard remains in the race but has yet to capture a first-place win in a single state contest, winning just two delegates in the territory of her birthplace, American Samoa.
Several likely contenders for the No. 2 spot on Biden’s presidential ticket who also ran in the 2020 contest and endorsed Biden include California Sen. Kamala Harris and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts dropped out of the race this month but has yet to make an endorsement. Self-help author Marianne Williamson threw her support behind Sanders.