Former Vice President Joe Biden said he would consider picking a Republican as his running mate in 2020, but the top-tier Democratic presidential candidate stopped short of naming which members of the other party he’d weigh for the spot.
Biden made the comment while speaking to voters in New Hampshire on Monday, after a woman told the former vice president he’d “have to pull out all the stops” to beat Trump if he’s the nominee, adding that her 21-year-old son wondered if Biden would consider picking a Republican running mate, according to CNN.
“The answer is I would, but I can’t think of one now,” Biden replied. He was met with audible laughs from the crowd.
“No I’m serious, here’s what I mean. Let me explain that,” Biden said. “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.”
He added that there’s a “plethora of qualified people,” including “a lot of qualified women” and “qualified African Americans.”
Whoever he picks, would have to be “simpatico with me,” Biden said.
“Who knew what my priorities were and knew what I wanted to do. We could disagree on tactic, but strategically we’d have to be on the exact same page,” he added.
Biden said earlier this year that he would prefer a running mate who was “of color and/or a different gender.”
He’s also thrown out some names of Democrats he would mull over for the spot. Earlier this month he said “of course” he would consider Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) for the spot, shortly after Harris dropped out of the primary race.
At a town hall in November he suggested four women he’d consider for the role, without naming them, saying “the former assistant attorney general who got fired,” referring to former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates; “the woman who should have been the governor of Georgia,” referring to Stacey Abrams; and “the two senators from the state of New Hampshire,” referring to Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan.