Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) gave her thoughts about Joe Biden’s potential vice president pick on Friday during an ESSENCE Live townhall, saying she strongly believes Biden is going to pick a Black woman as his running mate.
“Let me guarantee you this, based on everything that I know and understand, and the help that [Biden] has already gotten from the Black community, with what [Rep.] Jim Clyburn has done. Jim Clyburn and when he hears this he’s going to laugh, he can’t go home without a Black woman being VP,” Waters said confidently. “We’re going to have a Black woman VP.”
Waters’ team later clarified that the congresswoman was referring to Clyburn not being able to go home without a Black woman vice president.
Of course, Biden has yet to confirm his choice even as the Democratic National Convention draws closer, and more and more Americans continue to watch with a close eye as he is the presumptive nominee.
Names floated around as a potential pick include Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as well as several accomplished Black women like former national security advisor Susan Rice, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.)
Waters also took the time to encourage everyone to step out and vote, saying “I believe that Black Lives Matter and the protests that were in the streets [are]a sign of people understanding that this dangerous man with all of this power must not continue in office for another four years.”
Noting the memory and legacy of her departed colleague and civil rights icon, the late Rep. John Lewis who passed away last month, Waters emphasized that there is no reason not to vote in the upcoming elections, “whatever it takes.”
“We have a responsibility to vote,” Waters said firmly. “We can’t have people going around talking about how wonderful John Lewis was, how much he sacrificed, the beatings that he took, the way that he put his life on the line and we don’t get up and vote. There is no excuse.”
“Our lives depend on this,” she added. “Four more years of Trump, he will be able to exercise the kind of exclusion and discrimination that will set us back many, many years and we cannot afford that. He stands to imperil our future and the future of our children. So vote, vote, vote.”
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to clarify that Rep. Waters was referring to Rep. Jim Clyburn not being able to go home without a Black woman VP.