Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said this week he would "yell and scream" to prevent Hillary Clinton from choosing a Democratic senator for her running mate if that senator comes from a state with a Republican governor.
"If we have a Republican governor in any of those states, the answer is not only no, but hell no and I would do whatever I can, and I think most of my Democratic colleagues here would say the same thing," Reid told MSNBC Monday when asked about Clinton, the leading Democrat in the race for president, choosing an existing senator for a potential vice president — such as Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, whose state is run by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.
Reid referenced the case of former Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton as treasury secretary in 1993. Democrat Bob Krueger replaced Bentsen's seat in the Senate, but Krueger's term ended in the middle of 1993 when he lost in a runoff election. The seat has been red ever since.
"I went through that. We saw what happened in Texas when Lloyd Bentsen became secretary of Treasury," Reid said. "We have never recovered from that. Had we not gone along with that, we could still have a Democratic senator from Texas. I would yell and scream to stop that."
Warren, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker — who all come from states with a Republican governor — have been mentioned as potential Clinton running mates.
The results of a
Rasmussen poll released last week showed that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is currently battling Clinton for a spot on the presidential ballot, is her preferred running mate choice among likely Democratic voters.
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