Karen Bass would lick stamps – or run for vice president – to get Joe Biden elected
California Democratic Congresswoman Karen Bass said she’s ready to do whatever it takes, whether it’s running for vice president – or licking stamps at campaign headquarters – to elect Joe Biden as president.
During a virtual Sacramento Press Club panel Thursday, Bass, who’s on Biden’s short list of vice presidential candidates, said it’s critical Democrats leverage “every tool possible” to win back the White House from President Donald Trump in November.
“I am so concerned about what’s happening in this country. I am ready and willing to do whatever,” Bass said. “If the vice president wants me to go to the neighborhood, Biden headquarters and lick stamps – if people do that anymore – or walk precincts. I just feel that the state our country is in domestically and internationally requires us all to step up, and way beyond our comfort zone.”
Bass, a former California Assembly speaker, already has a post-election plan, too.
If Democrats win back the Senate and the presidency, Bass said, their first priority should be rebuilding the Affordable Care Act amid a pandemic that’s killed more than 130,000 Americans and devastated the economy.
“It’s gotta be health care,” Bass said. “Unfortunately, the damage that has been done to the Affordable Care Act over these years, we have to patch it back together, and then we need to build on it and expand.”
Though Bass avoided divulging details of the vice presidential vetting process, she said decades of grassroots organizing and activism against over-policing in Black and brown communities has positioned her well to tackle the variety of issues facing American voters today, including racial justice and engaging young voters.
She called nationwide protests against police brutality evidence of “profound change” in the United States and said the debate around removing statutes of controversial figures like Christopher Columbus and George Washington is an opportunity for Americans to learn about and grow from the darker chapters of the country’s history books.
Bass, who is Black, also said this national cultural shift has made it “very important” that Biden tap a woman of color as his second in command. She said Biden was the right candidate to help build a “bridge” across racial lines and within the party.
“We need healing in this country,” she said. “We need somebody to bring us together.”
While current polls show Biden with a healthy lead over Trump, Bass acknowledged several obstacles ahead for the former vice president, including voter suppression in the south and campaigning during the coronavirus that’s made it unsafe to engage voters personally, a practice at which she said Biden excels.
“I know one thing that I would be willing to do is go out,” Bass said of convincing young voters who are less than enthusiastic about Biden. “I will go out safely. I will go out with my mask. I will wear my gloves. I will do whatever it takes. I really view this election as a survival election.”
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 2:31 PM.