Who Hillary Clinton Might Pick for Vice President
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The race for the White House has slimmed down significantly at this point, but it's almost time to add more players. Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will pick a running mate for vice president soon.
The Democratic National Convention happens at the end of this month, and there has been a lot of speculation about Clinton's short list.
Here are six potential running mates for Clinton's ticket.
1. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)
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Warren is popular among liberals. About 38 percent of Democrats in a recent Monmouth University poll said that they would be more likely to vote for Clinton if Warren was her running mate. She's also a leading critic of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Two weeks ago, the Associated Press said that Warren was on Clinton's short list.
Warren has campaigned for Clinton and also been an attack dog for the Democratic Party against Trump. She's called him a "racist" and a "bully" on various occasions, and a "nasty, thin-skinned fraud who has never risked anything for anyone and serves nobody but himself."
Warren has also written several Facebook posts about Trump, calling him a "loser" who is "cheating people with scams."
Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had Warren as his top choice for Clinton's running mate back in early June, according to the Huffington Post.
2. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.)
Kaine is a former mayor of Richmond, governor of Virginia, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and now he is a member of the U.S. Senate. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell told the Los Angeles Times that Kaine's experience would make an excellent vice presidential candidate for Clinton.
"He’s a balanced candidate with experience in every one of the boxes you want a president to have some prior experience in,” he said.
On NBC's "Meet the Press" last week, Kaine talked about being a "strong supporter of Secretary Clinton." He said unity in the U.S. is important and Clinton is the best person for the job.
"We've got to have people who know how to bring us together," he said.
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Kaine is fluent in Spanish, something that could be appealing to Clinton's campaign in regards to Latino voters. In 2013, he became the first senator to deliver a speech in Spanish. However, Kaine's mixed positions on abortion could be a problem for progressive voters concerned with women's health. About 84 percent of liberal Democrats think abortion should be legal in most cases, according to Pew Research Center.
Kaine supported Planned Parenthood in the past, but he also said in 2005 that he would work to reduce the number of abortions in Virginia and he supported a law that allowed the sale of license plates that said "choose life," according to Politico.
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During his interview on "Meet the Press" last week, he expressed negative feelings about abortion. “I’m kind of a traditional Catholic," he said. "Personally, I’m opposed to abortion, and personally, I’m opposed to the death penalty.”
3. Secretary Julian Castro
Castro, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary, would be the first Latino vice presidential candidate if Clinton chooses him for her ticket, according to ABC News. Castro could be an important contrast to a Trump ticket. Trump has struggled with the Latino community by making anti-immigration remarks, like calling for a massive wall on the U.S. Mexico border.
Castro, a Mexican-American from Texas, has made strong statements to CNN against Trump's rhetoric.
"That immigrant story is the story of people with different skin colors and from different nations who have all come together to make the United States as prosperous and successful as it is today. If we had done what Donald Trump wants us to do...if we had done that generations ago, we wouldn't be nearly the caliber of country that we are today. It's a wrong-headed policy. It's laughable."
Castro was previously the mayor of San Antonio and was appointed to his current secretary position by President Barack Obama. After Castro endorsed her, Clinton said that she would consider him for a position in her administration.
"I am going to really look hard at him for anything because that’s how good he is,” she said, according to ABC News.
4. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.)
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Sometimes the best confirmation is a lack of denial. Previously, Booker directly denied being vetted to run with Clinton, but last week he referred questions to Clinton's campaign.
"I'm just referring questions about the vice presidency to the woman who is going to have to make this decision," he said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union." "You should talk to the Clinton campaign."
One thing that could hold Booker back from the nomination is that he comes from a state with a Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who would be able to appoint his replacement in the Senate. The replacement would almost certainly be a Republican.
5. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
Like Booker, Brown also deflected questions by referring them to the Clinton campaign.
Politico called him a "Rust Belt Ambassador" for Hillary Clinton and his relationship with labor unions could help her campaign win blue collar workers that may have voted for Sanders. Brown's home state of Ohio is also a swing state.
6. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.)
To be clear, most reports say that Sanders is not being considered as Clinton's running mate. However he's included here because of his lingering popularity with progressive voters.
People on Twitter are still hopeful that he will be the presumptive nominee's running mate.
The Democratic National Convention starts July 25 in Philadelphia.
