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The shortlist is getting little shorter as former Vice President Joe Biden gets closer to naming his pick for a running mate.
He has previously signaled that he would announce his choice by early August. California progressives have their own wish list for who they would like to see chosen.
For more, we were joined on KCBS Radio’s "The State Of California" by Amar Shergill, an Attorney and Chairman of the California Democratic Party Progressive Caucus.
I think Senator Harris is a fine elected official for California and she certainly put her name out there and had an amazing kick off. Like you said, she wasn’t able to resonate across the country like a lot of people hoped she would. So when we talk about what the ticket needs, we need some balance. The balance we need probably is not somebody that’s in the moderate lane like Vice President Biden. Kamala Harris doesn’t provide a lot of diversity of thought. What we need is somebody from the progressive movement that can energize voters on the progressive side that maybe are thinking twice about Vice President Biden.
Let’s be clear, California is going to go for Biden, so that’s not the question. What progressive voters, specifically Bernie (Sanders) delegates to the convention are looking at is how we can use our voice to let the party know what resonates with progressive voters all across the country? We need to energize them, give them a reason to get out and vote. We lost swing states by a few hundred thousand votes total. We need now a candidate that speaks to voters and win voters in Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia. African American and progressive voters in those cities are probably going to turn this election. We’re looking at three names that can speak to those voters that can all get it done. Representative Karen Bass from SoCal, Representative Barbara Lee from the East Bay and Senator Nina Turner from Ohio.
One of the things that makes Vice President Biden such a juggernaut, and you saw how he turned the primary election pretty quickly to his side, is that folks are comfortable with him. It’s very difficult to get a narrative about somebody that has such a long history, such an identification with President (Barack) Obama. Those usual kinds of smears are not going to work with Biden. What we can do is look towards how we supplement his voter base with somebody progressive that can talk in a little bit different way, that’s has identity, that’s a little diverse and that can get out the voters in those five cities that I mentioned.
We’ve seen over the last couple of days since this news about (John) Kasich that progressives don’t want him at the convention. We’re going to continue to make our voice heard. What we also need to recognize is that this campaign is unlike any other. Just look at what Vice President Biden was doing during the primary. He was winning states without any ground game. We have to throw out some of the rules that we’re looking at. I understand why Vice President Biden and his team and the DNC are thinking about how to push the envelope. But I think one step too far is to put somebody like Kasich on the microphone (at the convention). He can be an ally, but he doesn’t need to be at the convention.
If you look at folks like Bernie Sanders and people like him, the top would be Medicare For All, College For All, defunding the military, law enforcement reform. That’s why the Bernie delegates flexed their muscles a few weeks ago and ensured that Ro Khanna was part of the Vice Chair of the California delegation to the DNC. In an online environment, we need strong leadership voices when the rank and file might not get their voices heard. We saw Congressman Khanna, immediately after the Biden-Bernie unity platform, he was out there in front talking about Medicare For All, making it clear that we accept this progress and this platform, but now we’re going to normalize it and fight for what’s next and what’s better. A lot of folks are going to be surprised that after we elect Vice President Biden and send him to the White House, the progressive movement is going to immediately for all of those things we believe in. We’ll be advocating for an administration that looks more like what Democratic voters are, as opposed to just a few years ago during the Obama administration.