Stacey Abrams downplays rumors of becoming Biden running mate

She said the simply had a lunch with the former vice president, but no serious talk about him running and her becoming part of his ticket took place

Megan Sims

Mar 26, 2019

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After days of speculation, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams decided to address the rumors about her running on a potential Joe Biden ticket at an event to promote her new book on Sunday.

“Vice President Biden and I had a lovely lunch. And we talked about food, and we talked about — I mean, look, we talked about the presidency and what it means,” Abrams admitted.

Abrams rose to prominence during her 2018 run for Georgia governor, where she became the first black woman to be a major party’s gubernatorial nominee. The election was marred by controversial voter suppression tactics that many believe cost her the election. Abrams, who is a former Georgia House minority leader, became even more of a national name after delivering the Democrats’ response to the State of the Union Address in February.

Though the former vice president has yet to announce his candidacy for the already crowded 2020 presidential field, rumors began to swirl of him already seeking out Abrams as his running mate after it was reported they had a meeting. Though Abrams admits they talked about the presidential race, she refutes claims that they discussed being running mates.

“We talked about whether I was thinking about running,” she continued on Sunday. “We talked about whether he was thinking about running. But we did not have that conversation, and everything else is pure speculation made up by somebody else.”

According to the Huffington Post, this news may come as a relief for Abrams supporters who were frustrated by the notion that she may run on someone else’s ticket as opposed to launching her own campaign.

“It says a lot about her leadership and the passion that she has tapped into across the country,” Kimberly Peeler-Allen, a co-founder of Higher Heights, an organization dedicated to getting black women involved in politics, told HuffPost last week. “It is interesting that before she has even decided what she is doing, he has decided what he wants her to do.”

Abrams has already addressed speculation of her possibly running for the highest office in the country by tweeting a 2020 run was “definitely on the table.”