South Florida congresswoman urges Biden to pick Val Demings as running mate
(South Florida Sun Sentinel via msn) Congresswoman Lois Frankel said Wednesday she would like presidential candidate Joe Biden to pick her Central Florida colleague, Congresswoman Val Demings, as the Democratic candidate for vice president.
“Val Demings is the best choice for Joe Biden’s VP. Why? She’s a true leader, experienced, and uniquely qualified to address the changes we need to end police brutality against black Americans,” Frankel wrote on Twitter, adding the hashtags #ValforVP and #BidenDemings.
Demings, a former Orlando police chief serving her second term in the U.S. House, was catapulted to the national stage as one of the House impeachment managers who presented the case against President Donald Trump to the Senate earlier this year.
She’s been talked about for months as a possible Biden running mate pick, especially since Biden promised to pick a female running mate.
In recent days, as a black former police chief, Demings has received added national attention, including an interview on the NBC “Meet the Press” program, in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
As black former police chief, she’s been on cable TV — and on the NBC “Meet the Press” program — in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd.
Outside her Central Florida base, voters don’t know Demings well. A May 15 Florida Atlantic University poll found 4% of Florida Democrats surveyed favored her as Biden’s running mate.
Florida is a critical state in the presidential election. It awards 29 electoral votes, more than 10% of the 270 needed to win. And its statewide elections are often decided by razor-thin margins. In 2016, for example, Trump won 49% of the vote statewide to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 47.8%.
But vice presidential candidates historically haven’t made a difference in determining the outcome, with the exception of John F. Kennedy’s running mate Lyndon Johnson in 1960.
Frankel represents most of Palm Beach County, including West Palm Beach, where she once served as mayor. She was Democratic leader of the Florida House of Representatives during the contentious aftermath of the 2000 presidential election featuring George W. Bush and Al Gore.
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