New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, a 2020 hopeful, said Tuesday night that if he secures the Democratic nomination, he will “be looking to women first” when selecting a running mate.
“If you got the nomination, would you commit to choosing a woman as your vice president?” MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow asked Booker during an interview on “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
“We have such a great field of leaders. I think that you will rarely see a Democratic ticket anymore without gender diversity, race diversity. I think it’s something that we should have. So I’m not going to box myself in. But should I become it, you know I’ll be looking to women first,” Booker responded.
Booker also said he believes a woman should be president right now.
“I believe there should be a woman president right now, and I worked very hard to get one,” Booker, who endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, added.
Booker announced his candidacy earlier this month. He joined an already large pool of Democratic contenders, with a record-breaking number of women seeking the nomination. Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, and spiritual author Marianne Williamson have announced their candidacies for the 2020 Democratic nomination. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York has announced an exploratory committee.
CNN’s Rebecca Buck contributed to this report.