Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams said Thursday that she would be “honored” to be former Vice President Joe Biden’s running mate.
Abrams has previously refused to show interest in the vice presidential position but expressed interest directly for what is believed to be the first time on the political podcast, “Pod Save America.”
“I would be honored to be on the campaign trail as a running mate,” she said. “But that is a process that you can’t campaign for, and I’m not campaigning for. I’m just being straight-forward.”
“But no matter what, my intention is to ensure that Joseph Biden becomes the next president of the United States,” she continued.
Abrams lost in 2018 to Georgia’s current Gov. Brian Kemp (R) after a tight race that put her in the national spotlight.
Since then, she has devoted her time to voting rights advocacy to combat voter suppression. Abrams has said that her defeat against Kemp was the impetus that lead her to start Fair Fight, an organization that fights for Americans’ right to vote through litigation, legislation and advocacy, according to the mission statement on its website.
The former gubernatorial candidate said she pledged to all of the Democratic presidential candidates that she would remain impartial because “we needed everyone to invest in protecting our democracy.”
“No matter who the nominee was, we needed them to trust it wasn’t the arm of someone else’s campaign,” she said. “Everyone was very understanding including Vice President Biden about why my silence was important to my integrity.”
Abrams addressed the speculation about her becoming a vice presidential candidate in March 2019 after she and Biden had lunch. She said they had a “lovely lunch” and called the rumors “pure speculation made up by somebody else.”
But now that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has dropped out of the race, speculation about who Biden will pick as his vice presidential candidate has picked up in recent days.
The former vice president has vowed to choose a woman for the position and has previously said Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) is a contender.