Who are Joe Biden's top six running mate contenders?

While Biden has already vowed to choose a woman as his running mate on the ballot, he has faced increased calls to choose a woman of color.

By AARON REICH
US President Joe Biden gestures after disembarking from a plane upon landing at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel March 8, 2016 (photo credit: REUTERS/BAZ RATNER)
US President Joe Biden gestures after disembarking from a plane upon landing at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel March 8, 2016
(photo credit: REUTERS/BAZ RATNER)
US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has narrowed down his search for a vice presidential running mate to six serious contenders, all of whom are women, the Associated Press has reported, citing Democrat sources.
According to AP, Biden is currently vetting six presumptive candidates: Florida Rep. Val Demings, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice, New Mexico Governor Michele Lujan Grisham, Massachusettes Sen. Elizabeth Warren and California Sen. Kamala Harris.
Of the six potential candidates, four of them – Harris, Rice, Demings and Bottoms – are black, while Grisham is Latina.
Warren is the only white woman reportedly under consideration.
It is unlikely that list has been completely shortened, and it is possible additional candidates may be asked to undergo the same reviewing and vetting process as the top contenders, AP reported.
The campaign was quick to dismiss rumors that the list was final.
“Those who talk don’t know and those who know don’t talk,” Biden spokesperson Andrew Bates said, according to AP.
While Biden has already vowed to choose a woman as his running mate on the ballot, he has faced increased calls to choose a woman of color. This is due to the prominent role people of color have played in his rise in the polls, as well as due to the ongoing protests throughout the US against racism and discrimination following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis, AP reported.
Some former Obama administration officials hold Rice as their top pic to end up alongside Biden on the ballot, due to their shared history in the Obama administration when Biden was vice president. Though she has never been elected to an office before, her resume boasts extensive experience in foreign policy, including her tenure as the US ambassador to the United Nations. She has also been a vocal critic of US President Donald Trump, AP reported.
However, many others place Warren and Harris as the two most likely contenders, coming off the end of their respective bids for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to AP.
Harris is the only black contender to have won statewide office, and she boasts an expertise in criminal justice. However, many black progressives are skeptical due to her background as a prosecutor, AP reported.
Warren, however, boasts a reputation for progressive policy ideas regarding the economy, and with the economic slowdown resulting from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, many Democrats, according to AP, see these ideas as something that could help bring Biden into the White House.