Stacey Abrams says she would be an ‘excellent’ running mate for Biden

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams says she would be an “excellent” running mate for former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic White House nominee.

Abrams, the former Georgia House minority leader who has been vocal about her aspirations for higher office, touted in an interview published Wednesday her ability to bring together disparate demographics the Democratic Party is targeting in the presidential race.

“I have the capacity to attract voters by motivating typically ignored communities,” Abrams told Elle magazine. “I have a strong history of executive and management experience in the private, public and nonprofit sectors. I’ve spent 25 years in independent study of foreign policy. I am ready to help advance an agenda of restoring America’s place in the world. If I am selected, I am prepared and excited to serve.”

Abrams, who has continued to excite the Democratic base after she narrowly lost Georgia’s competitive gubernatorial race in 2018, has been vocal about her openness to joining Biden’s ticket, while most potential running mates historically remain tight-lipped about their own ambitions.

“I would be honored to be on the campaign trail as a running mate,” she said last week. “But that is a process that you can’t campaign for, and I’m not campaigning for. I’m just being straightforward.”

Abrams has said that she plans to be president within the next 20 years.

Biden has already committed to picking a woman for his running mate, fueling a cottage industry of speculation over whom he will tap as his No. 2. He has gotten public advice from supporters, including House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), to tap an African American woman in a nod to how black voters have fueled his presidential campaign.

While Abrams is joined on possible VP lists by several other women with more state and federal experience, she expressed confidence that she is prepared to take the job as vice president.

“I am very self-aware, and I know that my résumé … is usually reduced to ‘She didn’t become the governor of Georgia.’ But it is important to understand all the things I did to prepare for that contest. That campaign was not a whim. It was the outcome of decades of deliberate work building my capacity to serve as many people as I could, in the most effective way possible,” Abrams said. 

Among other lawmakers floated as possible Biden running mates are Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), as well as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D).