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- Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO who’s considering an independent presidential run, told INSIDER on Friday that he can’t commit yet to having a woman running mate.
- Schultz said that, if elected, he’ll have the most diverse presidential cabinet in US history.
- Several male 2020 candidates have either pledged to select a woman running mate or said it would be their preference.
Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO who announced in January that he’s "seriously considering" a presidential run as a centrist independent, told Business Insider on Friday that he won’t commit yet to having a woman running mate.
"At this point I would say that I haven’t decided to run for president," Schultz told Business Insider’s Kate Taylor during a sit-down interview on Friday. "And when I make that decision in late spring, early summer, I’ll answer that question with great specificity."
Schultz recently announced that he would have more women in his presidential cabinet than any president in US history.
"The commitment I made is that the cabinet will be the most diverse cabinet in the history of the country and have more women on the cabinet and any other cabinet in American history," he told Business Insider. "And it’s not because it’s a political slogan, it’s because it’s the right thing to do."
This comes as several male 2020 candidates have recently assured voters they’ll put a woman on their presidential ticket.
Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke recently said it would be his "preference" to have a woman running mate.
"It’s hard for me to think of a reason that I would not do that … that would be my preference," he replied. "It would be very difficult not to select a woman, with so many extraordinary women who are running right now."
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who’s faced criticism for his 2016 campaign’s treatment of female staffers, has said he’ll look for a younger female running mate.
"I think we would look for somebody who is maybe not of the same gender that I am, and maybe someone who might be a couple of years younger than me," Sanders told The Young Turks, a progressive news outlet, last month.
Former vice president Joe Biden is reportedly considering pledging to select Stacey Abrams, the Georgia Democrat who came close to becoming the country’s first black woman governor last November, as his vice presidential running mate in 2020. Biden is widely believed to be in the final stages of preparing for a 2020 announcement.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has gone further, promising that he’ll have a woman on his ticket.
"We should be a ticket that reflects the diversity of this country — gender diversity, race diversity," Booker said Wednesday on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." "And if I am elected as the nominee, I’m going to make sure there is gender diversity on the ticket."
When John Hickenlooper, a centrist 2020 candidate and former Colorado governor, was asked the question during a Wednesday town hall, he replied, "Of course."
See Also:
- 80-year-old conman set up fake sites for Bernie Sanders, Beto O’Rourke, and others that tricked supporters into sending him $250,000, prosecutors say
- Beto O’Rourke just endorsed a healthcare idea called ‘Medicare for America’ which differs in some major ways from Bernie Sanders’ ‘Medicare for All’ plan
- Joe Biden is trouncing the rest of the Democratic field in crucial early voting states
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Eliza Relman)