--- title: Joe Biden Vows to Pick a Woman Vice President description: In the first one-on-one Democratic primary debate Sunday, former Vice President Joe Biden vowed to pick a woman Vice President. canonical: https://time.com/5803677/joe-biden-woman-vice-president/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-03-16T01:47:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T08:27:24.498Z article:section: Politics og:title: Joe Biden Vows to Pick a Woman Vice President og:description: In the first one-on-one Democratic primary debate Sunday, former Vice President Joe Biden vowed to pick a woman Vice President. og:url: https://time.com/5803677/joe-biden-woman-vice-president/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadbed4fae2bfb126/698a0b92e76ad2bf30637611/dem-debate-11-5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: Joe Biden,Bernie Sanders og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joe Biden Vows to Pick a Woman Vice President twitter:description: In the first one-on-one Democratic primary debate Sunday, former Vice President Joe Biden vowed to pick a woman Vice President. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadbed4fae2bfb126/698a0b92e76ad2bf30637611/dem-debate-11-5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Joe Biden Definitively Vows to Pick a Woman Vice President > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Mar 16, 2020 1:47 AM UTC  Vice President Joe Biden, participates in a Democratic presidential primary debate with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on March 15, 2020, in Washington D.C. Vice President Joe Biden, participates in a Democratic presidential primary debate with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on March 15, 2020, in Washington D.C. Evan Vucci—AP  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Mar 16, 2020 1:47 AM UTC In the first one-on-one Democratic primary debate Sunday, [former Vice President Joe Biden](https://time.com/longform/joe-biden-2020/) vowed to pick a woman Vice President and promised to appoint a black woman to the Supreme Court. When asked about his plans for a running mate, [Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders](https://time.com/longform/bernie-sanders-2020/) said that “in all likelihood” he would also pick a woman, but that his running mate would be a progressive. “I commit that if I’m elected President and I have an opportunity to appoint someone to the courts, I’ll appoint the first black woman to the Court,” said Vice President Biden, meaning the Supreme Court. “If I’m elected President, my cabinet and my administration will look like the country, and I commit that I will in fact pick a woman to be Vice President. There are a number of women who are qualified to be president tomorrow. I would pick a woman to be my vice president.” This was the first time that Biden, who became the Democratic frontrunner after victories in Michigan and Washington last week, has definitively promised to pick a woman running mate. The promise rules out the possibility of a ticket that includes recent male endorsers like Senator Cory Booker or South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. [Former presidential candidate](https://time.com/5528621/andrew-yang-universal-basic-income/) Andrew Yang[ joked on Twitter](https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1239358676168839169) that Biden “didn’t mention that to me when we spoke” and added a smiley emoji. For several minutes, moderator Dana Bash attempted to ask Senator Sanders whether he, too, would promise to select a woman Vice President. At first Sanders tried to confront Biden about his previous support for the Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funding for abortion, and touted his voting record from NARAL. Finally, Bash was able to directly ask him whether he would pick a woman running mate. “In all likelihood, I will,” Sanders said. “For me, it’s not just nominating a woman, it’s making sure that we have a progressive woman and there are progressive women out there, so my very strong tendency is to move in that direction.” This essentially ruled out the possibility that if nominated, Sanders would pick a moderate running mate who might appeal to Biden voters and unite the party. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5803677/joe-biden-woman-vice-president/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5803677/joe-biden-woman-vice-president/"},"headline":"Joe Biden Definitively Vows to Pick a Woman Vice President","datePublished":"2020-03-16T01:47:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:27:24.498Z","description":"Bernie Sanders says that \"in all likelihood\" he will also pick a woman VP","url":"https://time.com/5803677/joe-biden-woman-vice-president/","keywords":["2020 Election","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadbed4fae2bfb126/698a0b92e76ad2bf30637611/dem-debate-11-5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadbed4fae2bfb126/698a0b92e76ad2bf30637611/dem-debate-11-5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Joe Biden,Bernie Sanders","caption":"Joe Biden,Bernie Sanders","creditText":"Evan Vucci—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2020-election/","name":"2020 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5803677/joe-biden-woman-vice-president/","name":"Joe Biden Definitively Vows to Pick a Woman Vice President"}}]}] ```