Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Sunday that the party “would always have room” for Vice President Joe Biden in its 2016 nominating contest.
In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” Wasserman Schultz confirmed that her staff met with Biden’s associates to talk about the logistics of a run.
“My staff at the DNC is responsible for giving briefings to announced candidates, to candidates that are thinking about running,” she said. “So that’s something that we do routinely all the time.”
The Florida congresswoman said Biden has gone through a “gut-wrenching” tragedy after the death of his son Beau Biden, but that he could still enter the race.
“Of course, in the Democratic primary, we would always have room and welcome the sitting vice president,” Wasserman Schultz said.
Her comments come on the eve of the first Democratic presidential debate, set for Tuesday night in Las Vegas. It is being hosted by CNN and Facebook.
She said all of the Democratic candidates — right now, Hillary Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chaffee — are more electable than the entire GOP field, which she said is “trying to out-Trump Donald Trump.”
“Any one of those candidates is in dramatic contrast to any one of the Republican circus candidates — circus performers — that are on the other side,” Wasserman Schultz said.
“The Republicans are saying, let’s kick more immigrants out of the country, let’s take away health care for more Americans,” she said.
O’Malley and Sanders have pressed for more than the six debates currently scheduled and sanctioned by the DNC. But Wasserman Schultz offered no indications Sunday that more will be added to that calendar.
“We’re excited about the first debate coming up on Tuesday,” she said. “We have six debates throughout our cycle, along with a number of candidate forums.”