Joe Biden told voters in New Hampshire on Monday that he would consider choosing a Republican as a running mate, but added, “I can’t think of one right now.”
Biden discussed the possibility after a woman told the former vice president that if he is the nominee, he will “have to pull out all the stops.”
“Our 21-year-old son said the other night, ‘I wonder if Joe Biden would consider choosing a Republican as a running mate,” the woman added.
“The answer is I would, but I can’t think of one now,” Biden replied. “Let me explain that. You know there’s some really decent Republicans that are out there still, but here’s the problem right now … they’ve got to step up.”
Over the past few months, Biden has offered several clues about who he might consider as his vice presidential pick if he earns the Democratic nomination. He previously said he would prefer to pick someone “of color and/or a different gender” as his potential running mate. Biden has also acknowledged he’d think about adding Sen. Kamala Harris of California and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to his possible ticket.
“Whoever I would pick for vice president, and there’s a lot of qualified women, there’s a lot of qualified African-Americans. There really truly are. There’s a plethora of really qualified people. Whomever I would pick were I fortunate enough to be your nominee, I’d pick somebody who was simpatico with me, who knew what I, what my priorities were and knew what I wanted to,” Biden said in Exeter on Monday. “We could disagree on tactic, but strategically we’d have to be in the exact same page.”
No modern presidential campaign has featured a bipartisan ticket. The late Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee in 2008, considered former Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Democrat-turned-independent, as a possible running mate, before settling on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential pick.
