Joe Biden names Kamala Harris as running mate

Former Vice President Joe Biden has named Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate for the 2020 election. Biden's campaign confirmed the pick on Tuesday afternoon. The Final Round panel break down what this means for the presidential race.

Video Transcript

- We're going to make hard pivot here, because we're getting some breaking news on the vice presidential pick for Joe Biden--

- Finally!

- Rick celebrating because he's been waiting so long for this. Multiple outlets now reporting that California senator Kamala Harris is the pick for Joe Biden. And Rick, you called it yesterday. You said, this is pretty much what's expected. We're less than a week out from the Democratic National Convention. How big of a lift do you think idol Harris can provide to Joe Biden? What's the immediate impact?

- Well, let's just point out it's not confirmed by the Biden campaign and the speculation has been mounting on Twitter and other social media sites and betting sites all day. But I don't think there was ever a lot of alternative to Kamala Harris for a bunch of reasons we've talked about over and over. Will she make a difference for Biden? Well, he's going to win California anyway, which California always votes Democratic, so it's not like she's going to bring an important state along that Biden might not otherwise win.

But the biggest way she can help Biden as a Black woman is to mobilize and excite Black voters, which is a really big deal in this election, because if we go back to 2016-- I think I might've mentioned this yesterday-- if Black voters had just shown up in 2016 in the same numbers they did in 2012, well, that extra turnout in places like Philadelphia and Milwaukee and Detroit probably would have put Hillary Clinton over the top and given her those swing states.

So the Black vote is really important in 2020 and just because Biden chooses a Black woman doesn't mean that he will automatically get a big bump among Black voters. She's going to have to work for it. But if Kamala Harris can get out there, and get into some of these communities, and just tell Black voters just come out and vote, just vote, just get involved, you can make a difference this year, I think that could be-- that could be decisive.

- And we should point out that Joe Biden on his Twitter account has now confirmed this, saying, I have the great honor to announce that I have picked Kamala Harris, a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country's finest public servants, as my running mate. Rick, you know, you talk about getting the Black vote on board. But of course, there's also sort of that Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren wing of the Democratic party that certainly feels like Joe Biden is more of a centrist. I mean, how far can come Kamala Harris getting-- go in mobilizing that part of the Democratic base?

- That's not her job. That is Biden's job. And he actually has been drifting away from the center toward the left. He has embraced a few of Elizabeth Warren's ideas. One example is the alternative minimum tax for big companies that don't pay much income tax, even if they report a profit to shareholders. So he has said, yes, companies like Amazon that pay relatively low taxes should pay an alternative.

Biden has not endorsed a Medicare for all, the big health care program that would eliminate private insurance. I don't think he's going to. He's not going to go that far. But, you know, the vice president's job is not to influence the president on policy. It's to-- it's to be considered a stable backup, somebody who can step in in an emergency-- more important than ever with Joe Biden being 77 right now, and 78 if he would happen to win.

And let's just point out that if Biden wins this year with Kamala Harris as his vice president, there's a good chance Biden will not run for re-election in 2022, and he would effectively be setting up Kamala Harris to be the democratic candidate. It would be her race to lose if that's what happens in 2022. So we could have a Black woman-- I mean, the likelihood of having a Black woman as a Democratic nominee in 2022 has just gone up by quite a lot.

- And I think, you know, Rick, in hindsight now, it's obvious that Kamala Harris was the choice for this. I mean, I think if we had had this conversation a year ago, some of us might have said she'd like to be the nominee. She's been a known commodity in national politics for some time. And a senator from the state of California is as close to a national politician as you can be without being one, considering how many people you're representing.

But I think you look back now at the other names that had been floated, and one that we discussed-- I think we talked about it off air right after the show ended yesterday was-- a lot of people had mentioned Susan Rice as a potential running mate for Joe Biden. And I always thought that that was-- Susan Rice has had a distinguished career, but that becomes a Benghazi election. That's all that would be talked about.

And that is now something that's not going to be-- you know, the Hillary Clinton emails are not a part of the Biden-Harris-- I mean, they're part of the right wing media sphere, but it's not something that has anything to do with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And I think that that's something, certainly, that establishment Democrats who are looking at this, biting their nails, saying, we just can't blow a 12 point, 11 point national lead. I feel like this is the choice that sets you up for that path to winning in November.

- I think you're right. I would have been astonished if he chose Susan Rice, not because she's unqualified-- she's very qualified-- but because she brings that baggage. She has been controversial because of Benghazi, because of some misstatements she made. And it would just-- it would just hand the Republicans, you know, something they could just, you know, try to generate headlines with for the next three months.

Keep in mind, all those other women who were supposedly on the list-- Karen Bass, Val Demmings, Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, and many others-- they could still turn up in a Joe Biden administration. You know, Susan Rice could end up as Secretary of State. And in a, way that is a more important job or at least a more active job you might say than being vice president.

And so I think-- and I think that, you know, the Biden campaign has had many discussions along these lines-- who's vying to be a cabinet secretary or a senior White House official in a Biden administration. I think some of those names that we saw on the vise presidential list are going to turn up.

And I will just point out, you know, a year ago, Joe Biden, Kamala-- a Biden-Harris ticket was actually a conventional choice, because Joe Biden was the best well-known. Even though there were 20 something Democrats at one point, Joe Biden was the best well-known. And Kamala Harris seemed-- seemed to be, you know, like she'd be a pretty good understudy. Pretty well known, generally well-liked, and a good complement to Biden.

So that was actually considered a real conventional outcome a year ago. And look what happened. We went from 24, 27-- I lost count how many candidates there were-- to, you know, what people thought was exactly-- what was going to happen a year ago. So we finally got through it, and now let's get through the conventions, and get onto this election.

- And Rick, speaking of the historic nature of this pick, I mean, the first Black woman as vice presidential pick, these are two-- you know, two candidates-- at one point, Kamala Harris was a candidate for president-- that had their disagreements on the debate stage about busing and segregation. At a time when there is a national conversation happening about inequality in race, I mean, how big of a liability is it? Do you think Republicans can try to maybe use her words during the presidential run for her against Joe Biden?

- I think they'll probably try. I mean, the Trump campaign and the Republicans-- you know, this is not just them. They'll try to drive a wedge between these two candidates any way they can. And it's typical that you use other members of the same party's criticism of the candidate from the primary election when they're going up in the general election.

I mean, you know, that was one issue. It was related to busing in the 1970s and the 1980s. And, you know, there were some whispering from the Biden campaign that Kamala Harris had not been sufficiently deferential once Biden became the nominee. And apparently, Biden doesn't care. And I think he shouldn't care, because if you go back to 2008 when Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his running mate-- you know, Obama and Biden had some unfriendly things to say about each other when Biden ran.

People kind of forget Biden did run against Biden-- against Obama for a very brief time in 2008. And they had some clashes. And then Obama said, let's bury the hatchet. I want to bring Biden on board. And now Joe Biden's doing the same thing with Kamala Harris. So watch for the Republicans to try to make something out of that. I don't think it's going to go very far.

- OK, we'll be watching very closely. And again, the news breaking just minutes ago that Joe Biden has picked California senator Kamala Harris, as his running mate.