Former 77-year-old Vice President and Democrat presumptive nominee Joe Biden (D-Del.) looks like his VP pick got a lot easier with national polls showing him trouncing 74-year-old President Donald Trump on Nov. 3. What’s important for Biden’s pick is that he picks a woman of color, not so much whether there’s a comparison of who’s most qualified on Day One to take over as president. Biden’s three remaining options include 55-year-old Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), 63-year-old Rep. Val Demings (D-Fl.) and 71-year-old Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), all three could get Biden over the finish line on Nov. 3. But to be politically correct in the post-George Floyd era, Biden will pick a black women, even though Warren is more qualified to be president on Day One. Biden rocketed to become the Democrat nominee, trouncing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) with his big win March 1 in South Carolina.
Biden was the recipient of Democrat consolidation around his candidacy, where the Party lined up behind him in South Carolina, propelling him to the nomination. When the convergence of his candidacy occurred in South Carolina, Biden had no competition wrapping up the nomination. When you look at what’s happening the battleground state polls, in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida, the same convergence that happened in South Carolina looks like it’s happened for Biden nationally. With the coronavirus AKA CoV-19 or Covid-19 crisis still plaguing the economy and George Floyd’s death hitting a raw nerve, a national convergence has happened around Biden. Whatever happened over the last four years with Trump, it looks like voters are fed up with the Trump experiment. Voters want less disruption in 2020 for the next president.
Picking a VP no longer has the same drama when it looked like picking the right person for Joe was needed to unseat Trump. With Trump’s polls heading south, Biden has the luxury of time but can now choose the safe pick, 56-year-old Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). Considering Rep. Val Demings no longer has the necessity it once did, whether she could help Joe win Florida. With or without Demings, Joe looks poised to win Florida, barring some cataclysm between now and the election. Much has been said about Demings serving as Orlando’s Police Chief from Dec. 16, 2007 to June 1, 2011, something that was a net positive in the post-George Floyd era. But it’s clear now that Biden doesn’t need Demings’ background as a former police chief to entice voters in the fall. Demings served in Congress from Jan. 3, 2017, giving her no special experience or distinction for VP.
Some think in the post-George Floyd era having police background is a negative for Demings. “Her biggest obstacle as a running mate is her police background,” said Sharon Austin, political science professor at University of Florida. Yet many voters would look at Demings past background a favorable to reforming nationwide policing. “That automatically is going to turn off a group of voters who will just never vote for a police officer. They see her as part of the establishment, par to the problems,” Austin insisted. But voters aren’t that narrow-minded, especially in the Trump age. Voters would more likely see Demings’ background as a positive to get meaningful police reform done. Whether Demings had a police background or not, it’s not going to stop voters from voting for a Biden-Demings ticket.
Demings has many positives serving as an impeachment manager under 60-year-old Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) who led the prosecution in Trump’s Senate impeachment trial. Biden has no worries at all who he picks for VP but there’s no downside at this point of picking Kamala Harris. Biden was treated to Kamala’s feistiness during presidential debate in Miami June 27, 2019, when Harris accused Biden of racial insensitivity when it came to forced busing for desegregation. Biden knows that Harris, a former San Francisco District Attorney and State Attorney General, knows how to prosecute her cases. When considering Demings over Harris, there’s no real choice, Harris has only upsides as a running mate. While either would work to win Nov. 3, Biden gets a media-genic personality with Harris, someone that brings excitement to the ticket, something Demings doesn’t bring.
Narrowing down the VP pick, Harris is the indisputable favorite heading into the Aug. 17 Democratic National Convention in Milwuakee. Conventional wisdom has Demings helping Biden win Florida, a key battleground state that Trump won in 2016 by 1.2% or 100,000 votes. But it’s highly doubtful Demings would bring Florida into the fold any more than Harris. If current polling gives any barometer of things to come, it looks like Biden could win with any of the three remaining VP picks. But there’s just no downside at all picking Harris, where Warren, an older white woman and Demings, a former cop, would find some objections. Harris has only positives helping Biden defeat Trump Nov. 3. “The real questions is, can whomever it is reconstruct the passion voters field when they voted for Obama,” said Susan McMannus, retired University of Florida political science professor, leaning toward Harris.
