Stacey Abrams on Joe Biden: “I Would Be an Excellent Running Mate”

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Stacey Abrams, who became a political darling among Democrats following her Georgia gubernatorial campaign, says she would feel “honored” if chosen to be Joe Biden’s running mate in his campaign for the presidency.

“I would be an excellent running mate,” Abrams said in an interview with Elle.

“I have the capacity to attract voters by motivating typically ignored communities,” Abrams continued. “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. 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 said she has a keen understanding of what the potential role would entail, too.

“The VP’s job is to be chief lieutenant and partner by taking on the roles and responsibilities assigned to you by the president,” she said. “I am very self-aware, and I know that my résumé…is usually reduced to ‘She didn’t become the governor of Georgia.’ But it is important to understand all the things I did to prepare for that contest.”

“That campaign was not a whim. It was the outcome of decades of deliberate work building my capacity to serve as many people as I could, in the most effective way possible,” she continued. “My responsibility is to be ready to do the job—to have the core capacities that are embedded in the role. I am able to stand effectively as a partner, to execute a vision, and to serve the vision of the president.”

Abrams also had positive words to say about the Democrats’ response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed more than 27,000 lives in the United States since the first death was reported on February 29.

“The Democratic Party has shown its strength and its cohesion during the coronavirus pandemic,” she says. “Governors are standing up and saying we will lead when those who should do not. Mayors and members of city councils are showing the best of who we can be. They are bolstered by the national apparatus amplifying their message.”

“This moment is a perfect reminder that there is no national coven, no cabal declaring, ‘Democrats, here’s what we’re going to do on Thursday,'” she added. “The quality of the party is us. We are Democrats. We set the tone. We set the agenda. Those we elect to every level of government are part of it. Let’s tell our story from the bottom up, not just the top down.”

Abrams’s name has been floated as a likely contender for the coveted position. Her statements come after Biden received high profile endorsements from former President Barack Obama and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)