Lesbian senator Tammy Baldwin could make history as the first openly queer vice presidential running mate
Tammy Baldwin (Astrid Riecken/Getty)
Tammy Baldwin could make history as the first ever openly gay vice president if she is selected as Joe Biden’s running mate.
Baldwin has been touted as a potential running mate for Biden, with some suggesting she could help him win popular support with progressive Democrats.
The Wisconsin senator told Milwaukee’s NBC affiliate WTMJ that she has been in regular contact with the Biden campaign.
“Were he to ask me to be his vice president, I would surely say yes,” Baldwin said.
“But I will keep my conversations in confidence – we just need to win.”
Tammy Baldwin would make history if selected by Joe Biden as his running mate.
She said her “priority” is that Biden defeats Trump in November’s presidential election and said she will help him “in any way possible”.
However, she refused to say whether or not she was being vetted by the campaign as a potential running mate.
In a statement released earlier this week to CNBC, a spokesperson for Baldwin said: “The Senator and the campaign haven’t been discussing the content of her conversations with the Vice President and the campaign and won’t go into the process.
Were he to ask me to be his vice president, I would surely say yes.
“She feels that the process is the vice president’s to conduct and will leave it to his team to provide any comments.”
Baldwin was the first out lesbian elected to Congress and to the Senate and is considered a popular choice to join Biden as his running mate.
If she is selected as Biden’s running mate, Baldwin would be the first ever LGBT+ person on the presidential ticket.
However, many within the Democratic party have called on Biden’s campaign to select a Black woman as his running mate following the brutal killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and countless others by white police officers.
The Wisconsin senator has had a long and storied career fighting for LGBT+ rights.
Baldwin has long since been a vocal advocate for LGBT+ rights.
Last year, she joined fellow senator Elizabeth Warren in writing a letter to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to “immediately reverse policies” that harm transgender asylum seekers.
The letter drew attention to the sexual harassment, discrimination and abuse faced by trans people in ICE detention.
She was also a staunch critic of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, America’s since-scrapped ban on openly gay members of the armed forces.
When she was elected to the Senate in 2012, Baldwin said she was “well aware” that she would be the first openly gay member of the house.
