Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) suggested on Thursday that he is not opposed to asking Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to be his running mate in the event that he secures the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 2020.
“You said Elizabeth Warren is a friend of yours, you say you have a similar approach on ‘Medicare for All,'” host Mehdi Hasan asked Sanders during an appearance on his “Deconstructed” podcast. “Would a presidential candidate Bernie Sanders be open to Elizabeth Warren as his running mate?”
“Elizabeth Warren is somebody that I have worked with for many, many years. I had worked with her before she was a United States senator,” Sanders replied. “So obviously if I am fortunate enough to become the Democratic nominee and president of the United States, I would look absolutely to Elizabeth Warren as somebody who would play a very, very important role in everything that we’re doing.”
Hasan pressed Sanders further on whether, in a time when Democrats have been heavily focused on identity politics, he would be OK with an all-white or all-male presidential ticket.
“It is too early to talk about it, but I do believe — let me just repeat what I have said many times — my administration and my Cabinet will look like America. It will be the most diverse administration and the most diverse Cabinet this country has ever seen. We are proud of our diversity. I am the proud son of an immigrant and I think when people look at our Cabinet and our administration, they will say, ‘Hey, that’s what America looks like.'”
Both Sanders and Warren have notably been shying away from attacking each other while they compete in the progressive lane for the Democratic nomination for the presidency. They have also been repeatedly asked to explain what sets their far-left campaigns apart from each other, but have consistently dodged providing an answer.
Sanders’ remarks coincidentally come on the same day that Warren was also questioned about the diversity of her potential presidential administration. While speaking at North Carolina A&T University, the Massachusetts senator revealed that she might tap some of her Democratic primary rivals.
“One of the values of this country should be diversity, so when you think about the makeup of your Cabinet, what three African-Americans do you feel like you have to have in your Cabinet?” CNN’s Angela Rye asked Warren.
Warren immediately responded that she wanted to refrain from naming people because she is currently running against some of them in the primaries. After Rye again asked for her to name three potential nominees, Warren put forth former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and some of the presidents of historically black colleges and universities.
“I’m trying to think, because I’m trying to stay outside the current Washington part,” Warren said. Where is the best place to go for Cabinet members? You know it’s to have people who are in the fight.”
“People like Melody Barnes, my friend of more than 20 years who has been in this fight from the beginning, who under President [Barack] Obama was a domestic policy adviser,” she continued. “Someone like Melody, who may not be as well known to this crowd, but who is out there fighting every day for money for higher education, money for public schools. So that’d be somebody I’d love to have in a Cabinet.”