“I just need to make sure whomever I pick…that person is sympatico with where I want to take the nation in terms of domestic and foreign policy,” Biden said during the interview. “I think there are a number of women who are in that category. The lawyers are putting together what will be the nature of the vetting process. It’s got to be thorough, which it would be. We’re looking at when to start sooner than later.”
Biden also stated that there is a shortlist of women that his campaign is looking at. “There are about 12 to 15 women who I think would be qualified to be president tomorrow. But I think we’re going to narrow the list down to about 11.”
Biden committed to selecting a woman as his running mate at the last Democratic debate with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Biden cited the fact that the makeup of government officials should mirror the country. At the debate, Sanders would not commit to doing the same, but said that “in all likelihood” he would move in that direction.
After a slow start in the 2020 Democratic primary season, the former vice president is the front runner for the Democratic nomination by a wide margin. Biden has won 19 of 27 states that have held Democratic contests thus far, after starting off one for four. Thus far, Biden has earned 1,215 delegates, according to The New York Times. The eventual nominee will need 1,991 delegates in order to secure the nomination.
Sanders has won a total of seven states, and 909 delegates, after winning two out of the first four Democratic contests. While Sanders’ path to the nomination is difficult, Biden said on The View that he has not spoken to Sanders about dropping out.
“It’s not for me to tell them to drop out,” Biden said of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates who eventually called it quits. “It’s up to Bernie what he wants to do.”
Biden and Sanders have both taken to campaigning online due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The next Democratic primary was scheduled to take place Tuesday in Georgia, but it has been postponed, as well as April 4 Democratic contests in Alaska, Louisiana, and Wyoming. The Hawaii primary on April 4 will no longer feature in-person voting, but rather mailed ballots due to concerns over the pandemic, which currently has 46,805 cases and over 600 deaths according to a tracker from Johns Hopkins University.
