Biden-Demings?

Rumors are circulating that presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has narrowed his choices of potential running mates to California Sen. Kamala Harris and Florida Rep. Val Demings- and some are giving Demings a slight edge, due to fears that Harris's background as a prosecutor could make her a target both from the Sanders wing of the Democratic Party and from President Trump and the Republicans.

In some ways, though, Demings has similar vulnerabilities. She's an ex-police officer, having served for some 27 years on the Orlando, Fla force. She became Orlando's Chief of Police in 2007. She is also an ex-social worker. She has been outspoken in calling for police reform. She is a co-sponsor of a bill that would bar chokeholds and other dangerous forms of restraint, restrict both no-knock warrants and limits on police liability, and set up a national police misconduct database.

But during her tenure as Orlando's Police Chief, the department used force in conducting arrests at twice the rate used in Tampa and other cities, and in more than half the cases those arrested were African-Americans. Her gun was once stolen from her parked car and never recovered. During her tenure, an 84-year-old man was thrown to the ground by an Orlando officer, breaking his neck. The man sued and was awarded $880,000 by the jury.

Demings determined that the officer acted within departmental guidelines, but ordered a review of the department's use-of-force policies and was praised by the attorney who represented the man with the broken neck.

Either choice could backfire and for similar reasons. Harris's prosecutorial record and Deming's time as Orlando's Police Chief would each come under scrutiny and probably criticism not only from the African-American community of which they are both members but from those to Biden's left in the Democratic Party and from a Trumpist Republican campaign which is unlikely to shrink from distortion, overstatement, and outright falsehood. It remains to be seen how the selection of either would play in the African-American community. But time will tell.

And, of course, the scuttlebutt could be wrong, and Biden might pick someone else.

Source: NPR