Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden on Monday said that he would consider choosing a Republican for a running mate if he’s the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, though he said someone who would fit the proper bill didn’t immediately come to mind.

“The answer is I would, but I can’t think of one now,” Mr. Biden said in response to a questioner at a campaign stop in New Hampshire.

“No, I’m serious. … There’s some really decent Republicans that are out there still, but here’s the problem right now with the well-known ones: they’ve got to step up. You know what I mean?” he said. “I’m not being a wise guy.”

He also said it would be “presumptuous” of him to be talking about running mates before he secured the nomination.

“Whomever I would pick for vice president — and there’s a lot of qualified women, there’s a lot of qualified African-Americans, there really, truly are … whomever I would pick were I fortunate enough to be your nominee, I’d pick someone who was simpatico with me, who knew what my priorities were and knew what I wanted to do,” Mr. Biden said.

Mr. Biden, a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, has talked up the notion that if President Trump is defeated in 2020, Republicans will be more willing to compromise and work with Democrats — a view critics on the left have dismissed as naive.

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