Elizabeth Warren Says She Would Accept V.P. Offer From Biden
Typically, every four years, when a politician is asked whether he or she (and it is usually a he) would accept the vice-presidential spot on their party’s ticket, the response is usually some variation of: “Oh, I’d be honored, but I am very happy in my current job as governor/senator/representative/mayor” or “That’s way too premature a discussion to have right now.”
So it came as something as a surprise that when Elizabeth Warren went on The Rachel Maddow Show on Wednesday night to discuss that day’s endorsement of her former rival Joe Biden and Maddow asked the inevitable question about whether she would join the Biden ticket if asked, the Massachusetts senator gave a simple, declarative answer: “Yes.”
Earlier on Wednesday Warren had tweeted out her support for the former vice president with a video message, saying, “In this moment of crisis, it’s more important than ever that the next president restores Americans’ faith in good, effective government—and I’ve seen Joe Biden help our nation rebuild. Today, I’m proud to endorse @JoeBiden as president of the United States.” Warren became the last of Biden’s top former Democratic rivals to back him for the party’s nomination, and she followed by a day an endorsement of Biden by former president Barack Obama in a 12-minute video he also posted on Twitter.
Biden welcomed Warren’s support, tweeting, “We are in a battle for the soul of this nation, and I’m proud to have the fiercest of fighters, Senator @ewarren, on my side. With her help, we’re going to beat Donald Trump and create a government that works for everyone—not just the wealthy and well-connected. Let’s do this.”
On MSNBC on Wednesday night, Warren explained to Maddow why she had waited until this week to endorse Biden, saying it was “the right time.” “Look, I think it was important that Senator Sanders have the time he needed and the space he needed to make the decision about what he was going to do with his campaign,” Warren said. “And now Senator Sanders has endorsed, President Barack Obama has endorsed, and I was very, very glad to do it today.”
And Warren pledged to help Biden defeat President Donald Trump in the fall. “I’m in this fight to help in any way I can,” she said. “To help on the policy front, to help by getting out there and talking about it. Shoot, to help by telling people go to JoeBiden.com, pitch in your five bucks, send some texts, volunteer some time, because it is truly the case we are all in this now, and we have seen the importance of having a leader that we can count on in a crisis. It’s not Donald Trump. It is Joe Biden.”
Then, Maddow asked the inevitable question, probably anticipating the inevitable answer.
“If he asked you to be his running mate, would you say yes?” Maddow asked.
“Yes,” Warren said in her one-word answer, offering no disclaimer, no what-ifs, no false modesty about it being an honor just to be considered.
Maddow looked momentarily surprised, a small smile beginning to form on her face. “I’m so happy you just gave me a concise answer to that,” said Maddow, now broadly grinning. “I’m going to let that sit there and resonate a second.” Then she cut to a commercial.
In March, in the final debate of the Democratic primaries, Biden pledged to pick a woman as his running mate, and among the names being floated since then, besides Warren, are two of his former 2020 rivals, California senator Kamala Harris and Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, in addition to Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, Nevada senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Florida representative Val Demings, and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
This week, Abrams also expressed her interest in joining the Biden ticket. In an interview with Elle, she said, “I would be an excellent running mate,” adding, “I have the capacity to attract voters by motivating typically ignored communities. I have a strong history of executive and management experience in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. I’ve spent 25 years in independent study of foreign policy. I am ready to help advance an agenda of restoring America’s place in the world. If I am selected, I am prepared and excited to serve.”
The directness of both Warren’s and Abrams’s responses—and the uncloaked ambition they represented—drew praise on social media, including this tweet from Caitlin Huey-Burns, a political reporter for CBS: “Gotta say, it’s pretty refreshing to hear politicians be upfront about their vice-presidential ambitions. These kinds of answers (Warren saying yes she would take it and Abrams saying she’s prepared to serve) are rare and meaningful coming from women.”
Originally Appeared on Vogue
