Two male candidates, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman, suggested this weekend that they would pick a woman as their vice president if they won the nomination.
“It would be very difficult not to select a woman, with so many extraordinary women who are running right now,” O’Rourke told reporters in Iowa on Saturday night. But, he noted, “first, I would have to win, and this is as open as it’s ever been.”
The Democratic field includes several prominent women, with Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar all running competitively.
Booker told voters in New Hampshire that he was “confident” the party would “make history” with their nominee.
“No matter what — I’m looking you in the eye and saying this — there will be a woman on the ticket,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s in the vice president’s position or the president’s position, but if I have my way, there will be a woman on the ticket.”
Issues of race and gender have emerged as a central theme of the Democratic primary race. Navigating their party’s gender dynamics has not been seamless for some of the male candidates.
O’Rourke has faced backlash for joking that his wife has been raising their three young kids “sometimes with my help.” On a podcast this weekend, he promised not to repeat the comment and said he acknowledged “the truth of the criticism that I have enjoyed white privilege.”
All the women in the 2020 race have touted their gender as a competitive advantage in a crowded field. Gillibrand, who on Sunday officially announced her presidential bid, has made running as a woman, for women, a central theme of her candidacy.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.