2 Rising Stars Suddenly Seen as VP Contenders

Floyd protests raise prospects of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Rep. Val Demings
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 8, 2020 9:03 AM CDT
2 Rising Stars Suddenly Seen as VP Contenders
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.   (Ben Gray/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

The George Floyd protests are quickly changing the calculus of Joe Biden's VP pick. Politico reports that two black women once seen as longshots are now serious contenders: Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Florida Rep. Val Demings. Both have taken on large public roles during the protests. Demings, 63, has previously been vetted and Bottoms, 50, is undergoing the process now. An analysis at the Washington Post by Aaron Blake agrees. He's got Bottoms at No. 7 on a list of 11 (she didn't previously make the list), while Demings moved up from No. 7 to No. 6. In Blake's reckoning, another black woman, Sen. Kamala Harris, remains in the No. 1 position.

In both stories, the rise of Demings and Bottoms has corresponded with the fall of Sen. Amy Klobuchar. While nobody is definitively ruling her out, Klobuchar's stock has fallen because of her record as a prosecutor in the area where a Minneapolis police officer has been charged with murder in Floyd's death. Axios, meanwhile, interviewed Demings and asked her if she would accept the running mate position. "If he asks me, I will say yes," she responded. Biden has said he hopes to make his pick by early August. (Biden just had a milestone weekend.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X