Stacey Abrams: I'd be 'honored' to be running mate of any 2020 Dem presidential candidate
WASHINGTON – Stacey Abrams, former Democratic nominee for Georgia governor, on Wednesday said she would be "honored" to be the vice-presidential running mate to "any" of the nearly two dozen 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
“I would be honored to be considered by any nominee,” she said in an interview with The New York Times published Wednesday.
Tuesday, Abrams quashed months of speculation about her possibly jumping into the crowded 2020 Democratic presidential field. Instead, the Georgia Democrat announced an initiative called Fair Fight 2020, which will staff and fund voter protection teams in battleground states across the country ahead of the 2020 elections.
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Following her defeat to Republican Brian Kemp in the Georgia governor's race during the 2018 midterms, Abrams was floated as a possible presidential candidate — something she told media multiple times that she was considering. In April, Abrams also decided against running for Senate, after being urged by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to consider that 2020 contest.
Abrams told the Times that she wouldn't have "publicly raised the possibility” of launching a 2020 presidential campaign “if it was not a legitimate thought."
She added that she is pleased with the current Democratic field.
Abrams met with former Vice President Joe Biden in April, which sparked rumors that she would be his running mate. However, she later told MSNBC she was not interested in being a primary candidate's running mate.
"I do not believe you run for second place and I do not intend to enter a presidential race as a primary candidate for vice president," she said at the time.
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A number of 2020 Democrats have said they would be open to having a woman as their running mate, including former Texas Rep.Beto O'Rourke, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Biden.
In her interview with the Times, Abrams said she believes that her new initiative is the "strongest contribution" she could make to the 2020 Democratic primary.
“I’ve just come to the decision that my best value add, the strongest contribution I can give to this primary, would be to make sure our nominee is coming into an environment where there’s strong voter protections in place,” she said.
Contributing: Ed Komenda, Reno Gazette Journal
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Stacey Abrams: I'd be 'honored' to be VP pick of any 2020 Democrat
