In a 90-minute roundtable with a dozen black journalists on Tuesday, former Vice President and current Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden openly acknowledged that identity politics are playing into his calculations in determining his potential running mate.
“Whomever I pick, preferably it will be someone who was of color and/or a different gender, but I’m not making that commitment until I know that the person I’m dealing with I can completely and thoroughly trust as authentic and on the same page [as me],” Biden said in comments first reported by CNN.
Asked why he thinks Democratic voters continue to choose him over minority candidates, particularly Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, Biden said he wasn’t sure, but made clear he’s glad that they’re choosing him over his competitors.
“People know me, or at least they think they know me,” he said in comments reported by Politico. “I think after all this time, they think they have a sense of what my character is and who I am — warts and all.”
He also suggested that his appeal to black voters has something to do with his comfort level in black communities. As an example of his enduring appeal, he noted that he got more black support in South Carolina than Barack Obama. “When Barack clobbered me in the campaign, you know, I had more black support in South Carolina than anybody, including him,” he said. “I got blown out in Iowa and all of a sudden everything changed. Same thing could happen.”
During the roundtable, Biden was also asked about his much-maligned praise for two staunchly segregationist Democratic senators’ “civility.” He responded by promising he is “not using those examples anymore.”
As noted by CNN, this isn’t the first time Biden has mentioned eyeing a female as a running mate. In an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo last month, the senior statesman said he thinks it would be “great to have a female VP.” As he did in the roundtable Tuesday, Biden also underscored to Cuomo that whoever he picks needs to be someone he can “completely trust” and is “simpatico with” his “political approach” because the job requires delegating “significant authority.”
Biden continues to enjoy a sizable lead in most of the national polls. As The Daily Wire reported Wednesday, a recent Quinnipiac national poll found Biden holding 32% of the Democratic and Democratic-leaning independent vote. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren came in second with 19%, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders came in third with 15% of the vote. Harris came in a distance fourth with 7%, while Booker didn’t earn more than 1%.
A USA Today/Suffolk poll released Wednesday likewise found Biden at the top with 32%, while Warren was in a more distant second with 14% and Sanders third with 12%. Harris was tied with Buttigieg for fourth at 6%. A new Economist/YouGov poll also found Biden in the lead, but far closer to Warren. The poll gave Biden 24% and Warren 20%. The poll also found Sanders in third with 14%. Harris once again came in fourth with 8%.
Related: Biden: Institutional Racism Is A ‘White Man’s Problem’