2020 Democratic Party vice presidential candidate selection

In March 2020, Biden promised to select a woman as his running mate, which marked the third time that the vice presidential nominee of a major party in the United States has been a woman, after Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Sarah Palin in 2008.


Harris became the vice president upon inauguration in January 2021 alongside President Joe Biden. She is the first woman to be vice president of the United States, making her the highest-ranking woman in U.S. history, and she is also the first Asian American and African American vice president.^[1][2]

Selection process[edit]

At the March 15, 2020, Democratic primary debate between former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Biden committed to selecting a woman as his running mate.^[3] At that same debate, Sanders stated that he would likely do the same, but did not pledge to do so.^[4] Biden became the presumptive presidential nominee after Sanders dropped out on April 8,^[5] though the Democratic ticket would not be officially nominated until the 2020 Democratic National Convention in August 2020. With his pledge, his running mate became the third woman to be the vice presidential nominee of a major party in United States history, following Democrat Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Republican Sarah Palin in 2008.^[6]


Biden indicated that he would make his selection on the basis of shared political beliefs and past experience. He noted that his selection would likely be younger than he is and that he would likely pick someone who is "ready on Day 1 to be president."^[7] On April 30, it was announced that the vetting committee would consist of Lisa Blunt Rochester, Chris Dodd, Eric Garcetti, and Cynthia Hogan.^[8]