Former Vice President Joe Biden said during a virtual fundraiser Friday night that he has spoken with both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and former President Barack Obama about choosing his running mate.
According to Axios, Biden said that he’ll set up a committee in mid-April to oversee the selection process.
“I don’t want him to think I’m being presumptuous, but you have to start now deciding who you’re going to have background checks done on as potential vice presidential candidates, and it takes time,” Biden said of Sanders.
He also acknowledged that the coronavirus pandemic has shoved the nomination fight to the back burner, and that “you can’t compete with a president” equipped with daily press briefings and the “ultimate bully pulpit.”
But, he added, people are “getting very upset” about Trump’s inaccurate statements.
Biden has been attempting to counter-program the President’s daily deluge, holding virtual happy hours and launching a newsletter replete with information from his own medical team.
Still, the coronavirus outbreak has put the nomination race on pause. Most states have pushed back their primaries in the hopes that the worst will pass, and people be allowed to gather and vote in person once more.
Sanders is giving no sign that he’ll drop out of the race anytime soon, though the former Vice President has built up a virtually insurmountable delegate lead after routs in the primaries carried out before the outbreak worsened.
