Preparing for the Vice Presidential Announcement with CAWP

At the March 15^th Democratic presidential debate, former Vice President Joe Biden pledged to select a woman as his running mate, should he win his party’s presidential nomination. With his selection imminent, prepare for the announcement with experts and resources from the Center for American Women and Politics, a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.

Expert Availability

CAWP experts and scholars are frequently called upon by national, local, and international media to provide analysis and data insights about American politics.

• Debbie Walsh, Director. Walsh has worked at the Center since 1981, through the elections of 1984 and 2008 that featured the only previous women major-party vice presidential nominees. She became CAWP’s director in 2001, and, in this role, she oversees the Center’s multi-faceted research, analysis, and leadership programming.
• Jean Sinzdak, Associate Director. Sinzdak manages the Center’s campaign-training program, Ready to Run®, as well as its national network of partner programs. She is also the project director for CAWP’s national education and awareness campaign to make women’s public leadership visible to young people, Teach a Girl to Lead®.
• Kelly Dittmar, Director of Research and CAWP Scholar. Dittmar is the author of two books about women candidates and officeholders, and she manages CAWP’s research and analyses on gender in elections and officeholding. Her previous research has also analyzed gender and the American presidency.
• Susan J. Carroll, Senior Scholar. Carroll has written numerous books, journal articles, and book chapters about women candidates, voters, elected officials, and political appointees. She pays particular attention during elections to data regarding women voters, providing insights into gender differences in turnout and vote choice.
• Kira Sanbonmatsu, Senior Scholar. Sanbonmatsu’s most recent research work focuses on women and campaign finance. She has written extensively about gender, race/ethnicity, parties, public opinion, and state politics.

Resources

Over nearly fifty years, CAWP has compiled unparalleled data, scholarship, and analysis about woman and American politics.

• Women Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates. Learn about the women who have made vice presidential history, from the first VP nominees in each of the major parties, to women of color who have served as third-party VP nominees, to the odd case of the first woman to win an electoral vote for vice president in 1972 — as the result of a faithless elector.
• Milestones for Women in American Politics. Get information about historical breakthroughs for women and politics, including women as candidates for president and vice president.
• What Voters Could Biden's VP Pick Mobilize? CAWP Research Associate Claire Gothreau analyzes nine of the rumored top contenders for the Biden VP pick in terms of their own electoral appeal and how their poll numbers overlap with, or complement, Biden’s strengths.
• A Woman Running Mate is Just a Start. Kelly Dittmar analyzes the potential impacts a woman vice presidential nominee may have on the election, comparing this moment to the 1984 and 2008 elections that also featured a woman VP nominee, while warning the Biden campaign against relying solely on the symbolism of a woman VP pick in its appeal to women voters.
• Voters. Women vote in higher numbers and at higher rates than men, and they have done so for decades. In addition, learn about the gender gap in vote choice.