Stacey Abrams says she would be an 'excellent running mate' as calls mount for Biden to pick a woman of color
- Former Democratic politician Stacey Abrams said she would be an "excellent running mate" in an interview with Elle magazine.
- Former Vice President Joe Biden - now the presumptive Democratic Party's nominee - said in March he would choose a woman as his running mate.
- Abrams became the first Black woman to be nominated for a state governorship by a major party when she ran for the office in Georgia in 2018.
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Stacey Abrams, the former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives, said she would make an "excellent" running mate in an interview with Elle magazine published Wednesday.
"I would be an excellent running mate," she told Melissa Harris-Perry for Elle. 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."
She added: "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."
Abrams most notably ran for the governorship in Georgia in 2018 and lost to Republican Brian Kemp in a close election, which she has said voter suppression played a role. She was the first black woman to win a major party's nomination for governor.
Since her loss, Abrams has devoted her time to Fair Fight, a national organizing effort she founded in 2018 that works to ensure fair elections.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, who became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee on April 8 when Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race, said at a debate on March 15 that he would choose a woman as his running mate.
"There are a number of women who are qualified to be president tomorrow. I will pick a woman to be my vice president," Biden said.
Last week, Congressman John Lewis said that Biden should pick a woman of color to be his running mate.
"It would be good to have a woman that looks like the rest of America: smart, gifted, a fighter, a warrior," Lewis said. "I think the time has long passed to make the White House look like the whole of America."
Abrams, who told Elle she believed Biden has a "truly sincere sense of humor," said she was ready to serve as his vice president.
"My responsibility is to be ready to do the job-to have the core capacities that are embedded in the role," Abrams told Harris-Perry. "I am able to stand effectively as a partner, to execute a vision, and to serve the vision of the president."