Fiorina: Biden picking Harris for VP ‘a smart choice’

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, a onetime GOP presidential candidate, said Wednesday that Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) was “a smart choice” for former Vice President Joe Biden’s 2020 running mate.

“From a political point of view, I think it was a smart choice. I think he really needed to select a woman of color,” Fiorina said on SiriusXM’s “Wharton Business Daily.”

Fiorina said she disagrees with both Harris and the Democratic Party “on many things,” but added “setting aside those disagreements as a woman, I think it is high time that we see a ferociously self-determined, highly accomplished, thoroughly prepared woman of color at the top of the national ticket.”

“And I think regardless of people’s political persuasions, I think honestly it just reminds us that diversity and possibility are the core of what makes this nation great,” she added.

Biden pledged during the Democratic primaries that, if he became the nominee, he would name a woman as his vice presidential pick. He announced the selection of Harris on Tuesday.

Harris is the first woman of color on a major party ticket and only the fourth woman overall.

After Fiorina ended her 2016 presidential campaign, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) announced her as his running mate, despite the selection usually coming after a candidate has secured the party nomination. Cruz lost the Indiana primary to now-President Trump and suspended his campaign shortly after.

Fiorina said in June that she plans to vote for Biden in November, saying she could not support Trump and considered the election a binary choice.

“I am encouraged that Joe Biden is a person of humility and empathy and character. I think he’s demonstrated that through his life,” she said. “And I think we need humility and empathy everywhere in public life right now. And I think character counts.”