Failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said President Joe Biden was right to pass over her for his vice presidential nomination and choose then-Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., instead.
“Not getting that job is not a mark against me. It’s not a mark against ambition. It was Joe Biden’s decision about who he wanted and he picked the right person for his administration,” she said during a recent interview.
She also said Biden’s decision not to choose her for the position made her “reassess” her political trajectory.
“I applaud them, I work with them, I’m so proud of them,” Abrams said of Biden and Harris. “But it also made me reassess how far behind my, you know, how, where I was on my sort of growth path. There’s always more to learn. There’s always more to learn, there’s always more to be, there’s always more you can develop.”
Before Biden tapped Harris as his vice president, Abrams, who has never held a political office higher than at the state level, went on a months-long media tour that essentially served as her audition for the role.
She publicly said she would make an “excellent” running mate for Biden and that she would be “honored” if he chose her. And at one point she openly admitted, “Of course I want it.”
Abrams still plans on being in the White House some day though. When asked if she has presidential ambitions, she said: “It’s still a job that I want.”
“But it’s a job that I need to be prepared to have,” she said. “And there are other things I want to do that I think will make me better at that job. So no, the goals haven’t changed. The timing may change.”
Abrams said something similar last week, claiming it’s something she dreams of.
“When someone asks me if that’s my ambition, I have a responsibility to say yes, for every young woman, every person of color, every young person of color, who sees me and decides what they’re capable of based on what I think I am capable of,” she said. “Again, it’s about, you cannot have those things you refuse to dream of.”
