With just four months until the 2020 presidential election in November, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign has announced a vice president shake-up few saw coming.
Expected to announce his running mate in a little over four weeks, Biden’s campaign announced that they’ve asked a new candidate to enter the vetting process — Rep. Karen Bass, the leader of the Congressional Black Caucus. Bass is expected to accept.
The move has surprised Washington, D.C.
Biden’s campaign is late in the vetting process among presumptive frontrunners like Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Kamala Harris, D-Calif.
“Karen Bass would be a big plus … she is a great person in my mind, I work with her every day,” House Majority Whip James Clyburn said in June when asked by CNN.
In her decade of work as a lawmaker, Bass isn’t without controversy.
In 2010, Bass’ liberal use of California’s “per diem” fund was heavily criticized by LA Weekly. Bass was collecting thousands of dollars for what she said was off-sight legislative work, LA Weekly wrote, but wasn’t showing up to cast actual votes.
At the time, friends accused her of developing an “elitist air” and using taxpayer funding to travel with a large entourage.
“You’re in this bubble. You work long hours, your judgment gets off, it’s so heady. I watched it happen to her … the need to be treated like royalty,” a friend told LA Weekly in 2010.
The Horn editorial team