Stacey Abrams Has A Prediction For Who Democrats Will Pick As Their 2020 Nominee

Although she hasn't yet decided whether she'll be a candidate, Stacey Abrams believes that Democrats' 2020 presidential nominee won't be a white man, she told CBS News on Wednesday. The Georgia Democrat, herself the subject of frequent 2020 speculation, made the remarks while discussing the 2020 race and promoting her new book, Leading From The Outside.

"There are number of women, there are a number of minority candidates for the nomination," host Alex Wagner said on CBS This Morning. "Is this the year one of them ends up being the nominee?"

"I believe so," Abrams replied. "The conversation that led to me writing Lead From The Outside is that we have to start evolving what the face of leadership looks like. But that means we have to have practical tips. It's not enough to dream that you want to be things. You have to have a pathway there."

If Democratic primary voters do decide that they want a woman or person of color as their next presidential nominee, they'll have plenty of options: As of this writing, no fewer than nine of the 16 declared candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination are women, people of color, or both.

Abrams narrowly lost her 2018 race to be Georgia's governor, an election many have argued was tainted by voter disenfranchisement. However, her tantalizingly close race made her a household name, and she's made it very clear since the race that she intends to run for office again.

The million-dollar question, of course, is which office she'll run for. On Wednesday, Abrams told the hosts of The View that she's "open to a number of options right now," including the Senate and the presidency.

"Part of my opportunity right now is that I have a number of options I didn't know about before," Abrams said. "It's the Senate race, it's possibly running for governor again, it's possibly running for president. And my responsibility is to take seriously the opportunity to give credibility to those who are asking me, but to make sure that I'm the right person, that this is the right time, and that this is the right job.

There's one thing Abrams isn't open to, however. In recent weeks, there's been speculation that former Vice President Joe Biden, widely believed to be launching his own presidential campaign imminently, might announce Abrams as his running mate right out of the gate, before he's even won the nomination. On Wednesday, she made clear that this isn't going to happen.

"I think you don't run for second place," Abrams said on The View when asked about the possibility of joining Biden's campaign right off the bat.

"Oh, that is a good answer," co-host Meghan McCain responded, clearly impressed.

"If I'm going to enter a primary, then I'm going to enter a primary," Abrams continued. "And if I don't enter the [2020 Democratic presidential] primary, my job is to make certain that the best Democrat becomes the nominee, and whoever wins the primary, that we make certain that person gets elected in 2020."