Joy Reid, On Her First Nightly MSNBC Show, Asks Joe Biden If He’ll Commit To Picking A Black Woman As His Running Mate

Joy Reid’s first guest on her new nightly MSNBC show The ReidOut was presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who gave her an update on his search for a running mate.

Reid generally posed questions to Biden that reflected some of his campaign’s talking points, including President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, but she also put him on the spot when she asked whether he would commit to picking a Black woman as a running mate.

“I am not committed to naming any but the people I have named, and among them are four Black women. So that decision is underway right now. And by the way, Black women have supported me my entire career. You all act like all of the sudden there was an epiphany in South Carolina.”

Biden then talked about his history of support in Delaware, his home state.

“They are the ones, as that old saying goes, that brought me to the dance. I have been loyal. They have been loyal to me. And so it is important that my administration, I promise you, will look like America, from Vice President, to Supreme Court to cabinet positions, to every major position in the White House.”

Biden said that he is getting the detailed analysis of the vetting via two-hour reports.

“We have gone through about four candidates so far in the two-hour vetting, and we will get all the vetting done of all the candidates, and then I am going to narrow the list, and then I will have personal discussions with each of the candidates who are left,” Biden said.

He has indicated that he expects to name a running mate around Aug. 1, which is next week.

On Reid’s show, Biden didn’t name the women, but reports have indicated that they are Kamala Harris, Susan Rice, Val Demings and Keisha Lance Bottoms.

“We were thinking of you as Vice President, but then you took this job,” Biden said to Reid as he congratulated her for the new gig.

“It is a presumptuous thing to say, but it really is beyond time,” Biden said.

Reid succeeds Chris Matthews as the regular occupant of the 7 PM ET slot. In contrast to Hardball and much of the network’s daytime schedule, Reid’s background as a progressive commentator made the show much more in keeping with MSNBC’s primetime line up, including Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell, the latter who joined her at the show’s end as one of her guests.

Bottoms was one of Reid’s guests in another segment, along with Chicago’s mayor Lori Lightfoot. Reid also interviewed Hillary Clinton, and among the topics were Russian interference in the elections. After Reid played the now infamous clip of then-candidate Donald Trump saying, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Clinton claimed that Roger Stone’s clemency was rooted in the threat he posed to the president if he told the truth.

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