Elizabeth Warren would have been Biden’s VP pick

If Vice President Joe Biden had made a run for the presidency, he would have asked Sen. Elizabeth Warren to be his own second-in-command, POLITICO reported Thursday.

Biden thought the junior senator from Massachusetts would appeal to the populist and progressive wings of the party and even discussed the possibility with her in a meeting last year, sources told POLITICO. Even though Biden decided not to run after the death of his son Beau, those sources said he still considers Warren an ideal candidate to be his successor should Hillary Clinton win the White House.

“[Warren]’s someone that was discussed,” said Ted Kaufman, a former senator from Delaware and Biden ally to POLITICO. “She’s clearly someone anyone would consider.”

Biden discussed a possible presidential run with Warren in a meeting last September at the Naval Observatory, where the vice president resides, POLITICO reported. Warren was “noncommital” yet “not displeased” at hearing he wanted her to join him on a ticket, a source said, but warned the vice president that Biden’s moderate record had little hope of distinguishing itself from Clinton’s.

Biden said in an interview with ABC's Robin Roberts Tuesday that he thought he “would have been the best president” but that a run would have been too difficult for his family after his son’s death.

Spokespeople for both Biden and Warren declined to comment to POLITICO.

Warren has been floated as a possible vice president for both Bernie Sanders and Clinton, given her position as a leader of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing. She herself declined to run for president during the 2016 cycle and has stayed mum on endorsing either Sanders, who leans closer to her ideological positions, or Clinton, who has won the endorsement of every other female Democrat in the Senate.

But Warren has been outspoken in calling out Republican candidates for the presidency, engaging in multiple Twitter spats with presumptive nominee Donald Trump for his “racism, sexism, and xenophobia,” she said.

This story was originally published May 12, 2016 at 6:59 AM with the headline "Elizabeth Warren would have been Biden’s VP pick."