Months ago, the vice presidential chatter du jour revolved around Joe Biden and his alleged courtship of Georgia’s Stacey Abrams. Perhaps because Biden was the front-runner at the time, perhaps because Democrats wondered where, exactly, Abrams would land, speculation that she was in talks with the Biden campaign reached a fever pitch before she quashed the rumors. Since then the field has shifted, and Elizabeth Warren has surged past Biden in some polls, prompting a new cycle of guesswork as to her potential running mate. On Thursday, the Daily Beast reported the latest: that Warren is eyeing Florida’s Andrew Gillum.

A source close to Gillum’s political team, who narrowly lost his run for governor of Florida to Republican Ron DeSantis in November, “would not confirm specific talks,” and noted that Gillum is “in communications with many of the candidates” given Florida’s status as a crucial swing state in 2020. Some sources held Warren was simply in touch with a Florida man with unique Florida political insights. But a source briefed on the communications told the Daily Beast they had a “strong impression” she was courting him as a potential candidate. “If you’re trying to win Florida, I would be courting Andrew,” said another source familiar with the talks. “And that’s what’s happening.”

No matter who wins the Democratic presidential nomination, a running mate with roots in a swing state will certainly be appealing. Florida has been known to sway national elections by less than 1,000 votes, and in 2016, Donald Trump won the state by a mere 1.2%. A leg up in Florida, especially as the state’s Latino population grows, could go a long way. And Gillum’s status as a rising star in the Democratic Party makes him a natural contender for the running mate position. Discussions about a potential Warren–Gillum pairing could preview the eventual direction of the Massachusetts senator’s campaign: diverse, aggressively progressive, little impulse to follow conventional wisdom with a safe, moderate, Bidenesque veep—try as her fellow 2020 contenders might to recommend themselves.

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