The nation is less than 5 months away from voting for the next President in the 2020 national election held November 3. Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat will run against President Donald Trump. The question has been for several months who would be Biden’s running mate and will Biden choose a potential woman of color Vice President?
Biden pledged he would select a woman candidate as his running mate, ‘Vice President’. Democratic Black and Latino leaders are in alignment for a woman of color, Latina and/or Black to be part of the coveted ‘VP’ role and selection process.
Despite the fact that 2019/2020 have been record years of women running for House, Latinas, Black women and other women of color must be part of the political running conversation for national progress including for positions of the Executive Branch of the United States.
The future of the United States stands as follows: Latinas are about half of the 60 million Latinos in the United States (U.S.) and 18 percent of all women in the U.S. Black women constitute for nearly 14% of all women in the U.S. By 2040, Latinas will account for nearly 27% and Black women slightly over 15% of all women in the United States.
According to Catalyst.org, women of color will be the majority of all women in the United States by 2060 combined with Asian females and other women of color groups.
A woman of color Vice President of the United States makes the most sense for the future of the nation, in addition to beating Trump at the polls.
As a list of potential women, VP candidates emerged on social media, it was clear that Latina candidates were completely left out of the conversation. The leaving out of Latina politicians is nothing new.
The Latino Victory Fund responded with a tweet on the failure to include strong and qualified Latina candidates. The Latino Victory Fund (LVF), an organization co-founded by Eva Longeria is a progressive political action committee working to grow Latino political power by increasing Latino representation at every level of government. Full disclosure – LVF endorsed Biden’s 2020 run for President.
There was ‘one’ Latina that did emerge as part of Biden’s presidential campaign. Not a running mate candidate but nonetheless an important influential role as senior advisor to Biden. Julie Chávez Rodriguez, who previously served in the Obama administration, overseed the White House’s engagement with marginalized groups – LGBTQ+, Latino, veterans and progressive leaders in these spaces. After Obama, Chávez served as a co-national political director on California Senator Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign and was her California state director before that. One notable role Chávez played was granddaughter to civil rights Latino leader, César Chávez.
brilliant, but she’s also paved the way for many Latinas like me. She’s a pillar in our community, and a huge, huge get for Team Biden. https://t.co/IjM0X2GLla
— Natalie Montelongo (@natimontelongo) May 19, 2020
Some Latino leaders have criticized the Biden campaign early, saying it’s not doing enough to reach out to the Latino key demographic group. Biden’s campaign did run into staffing issues and outreach to key demos when a Latina senior advisor, Vanessa Cárdenas resigned. Cárdenas was in charge of outreach to Latino, African-American and women’s groups quit her post, telling two allies she was frustrated over her lack of input and with the presidential candidate’s immigration rhetoric. The Latino outreach campaign team stayed intact despite Cárdenas departure.
Despite Biden’s wins and missteps, he forges ahead, his most notable contribution as he states was writing and championing the Violence Against Women Act. A major misstep was his treatment of Anita Hill’s defense strategy, as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee overseeing the 1991 Federal Supreme Court case, ‘Hill vs. Thomas’, a sexual harassment case that was brought to this highest level and shined a mainstream light on the act of sexual harassment. Biden’s decision kept Justice Clarence Thomas in his role to this day. In 2019, Biden issued a formal regret of which Hill did not accept.
Over the past two years, the Biden campaign was rocked by accusations on Biden’s behavior of improperly touching women and girls. The violation of personal space and interactions haven’t been taken lightly like eight women. Critics of Biden, took his ‘not sorry for anything that I’ve ever done’ stance to the press which further exasperated the alleged accusers.
As the election nears, and three more debates between Biden and Trump stand, it is expected should Biden win this November’s election, he will run his term in the likes of the Obama administration.
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Biden rolled out a $775 Billion dollar proposal for what seems like ‘Universal Health Care’ for all, covering care for small children, older adults and family members with disabilities. This plan would positively affect the lives of women at work and who tend to be the majority of caregivers. Biden’s plan would also shrink racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps by allowing childcare and Pre-K education to be a national program.
With Biden’s plans, it would make sense to have a woman VP running mate and to choose a woman of color for the nation’s potential Vice President role. Biden is said to be going through a rigorous vetting process that could take up to side weeks to determine the top candidates.
Biden has shared that he has short-listed four Black women running mate candidates.
Biden told MSNBC’s ‘The ReidOut’, “I am not committed to naming any but the people I’ve named, and among them are four black women.”
A nation divided yet with those on the right side of history awaits.
