Watson Coleman thinks Biden or Sanders should run with ‘woman of color, or a person of color’

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) says she’s not ready to endorse a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, but thinks it’s time for a woman or person of color – maybe both – to run for vice president with either Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders.

Coleman mentioned Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren as potential VP candidates, along with Reps. Val Demings of Florida and Terri Sewell of Alabama, and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

“It’s not like we don’t have a lot of options,” Coleman told the New Jersey Globe during a telephone interview.  “A woman of color, or a person of color, would be an asset.”

Watson Coleman said that Biden or Sanders will need to “bring enthusiasm and activism” to the national ticket once the nomination is secured.

“Democrats need to unite,” she said.  “We need a healing process.  We need someone with the core values that we share.  We should pick someone who is diverse.”

Watson Coleman was strong in her praise of Harris.

“She would be a fantastic addition  for the nominee,” the former New Jersey Democratic state chair said.  “She’s brilliant.  She’s younger.  She comes from a big state.  She can invigorate women and African Americas.”

Demings, a former Orlando police chief, is serving her second term in Congress and was one of seven impeachment managers who presented the case against President Donald Trump during his U.S. Senate trial earlier this year.

Sewell has ties to New Jersey.  She is a 1987 graduate of Princeton University and Oxford University and was a classmate of Barack Obama at Harvard Law School.   She has represented Selma in Congress for ten years.

Both congresswomen endorsed Biden prior to his sudden re-emergence as the Democratic front runner.

There are currently 47 women of color currently serving in Congress, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.

Watson Coleman immediately dismissed an interest in the vice presidency for herself.

“No way, thank you very much,” she said.