Kamala Harris is moving swiftly to lock up the Democratic nomination for president and could have enough delegate support to do so by midweek.
Her next major task: selecting a running mate.
Rather than moving to challenge Harris for the mantle, in the first 24 hours of her candidacy, the potential vice presidential picks began jockeying to be on her shortlist.
The top contenders parsed questions from reporters eager to hear if they’d be interested in a job that could put them a heartbeat away from the presidency. They went on social media to joke about their newfound interest. Some even hit the major TV shows typically watched by White House officials, such as “Morning Joe,” to confirm that calls with Harris had taken place.
“I think if somebody calls you on that, then what you do is at least listen,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who confirmed Harris reached out, said on the MSNBC program Monday morning.
For their part, Harris’ campaign team has been tight-lipped about the process and who might be under serious consideration. One item that did surface: former Attorney General Eric Holder and his law firm, Covington & Burling LLP, will conduct the vetting of Harris’ potential partner on the campaign trail, Reuters reported on Monday.
Potential running mates include a deep bench of younger Democrats who have been widely seen as White House contenders in their own right once President Joe Biden got out of the picture. They range from swing state governors to a former astronaut now serving in the U.S. Senate and one popular Cabinet official who ran for president against Biden and Harris in 2020.
All of them bring their own bases – and liabilities – while auditioning to join the brand new Harris ticket.
“The primary consideration should be someone who will have the same effect on the electorate that she does, because then it will be a one two punch,” Halie Soifer, a former national security adviser to Harris in the Senate, told USA TODAY.
Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said she anticipates the pick will share Harris’ urgency to defend democratic norms, protecting reproductive rights and rejecting isolationist foreign policy views while serving as a direct contrast to the Republican ticket.
Moore, Whitmer pass on joining ticket
Two governors who may have fit that bill took themselves out of the running on Monday, Michigan’s Gretchen Whimer and Maryland’s Wes Moore.
“I’m not leaving Michigan,” Whitmer, a staunch abortion rights proponent whose state borders Canada, told a local TV station on Monday.
Moore, a combat veteran, said Monday during a conference in Washington, D.C. that being VP isn’t something you can’t be “recruited or drafted” to do. “I am absolutely in love with my state,” he said.
The 59-year-old vice president, who’s already broken barriers, is poised to be the first Black woman and Asian-American Democratic nominee for president. A former California attorney general and prosecutor, allies contend her judicial background will be a perfect contrast for voters to asses against Republican nominee Donald Trump, the first former president to ever to be both indicted and convicted of a crime.
But GOP critics and other skeptics are quick to spotlight how she fumbled early assignments in the Biden administration. There are other electoral weaknesses Harris has that a well chosen running mate could help balance out, political observers say.
Harris is expected to have a compressed period of time to make a decision, with the Democratic National Convention set to begin in less than four weeks. Recent history suggests a Democratic VP announcement comes a few days, or up to a week, before the national convention, though there have been exceptions this century too.
Vice presidential candidates run separately in the Democratic Party’s process, and whoever Harris picks will receive a separate vote on the convention floor.
Quentin James, a DNC delegate from Ohio, said choosing a running mate should be about helping Harris pave a smoother pathway to victory.
“I definitely think it needs to be someone of the opposite gender, who can help win some important swing states and with a military background,” he said.
James, founder and president of Collective PAC, which is aimed at increasing Black political participation, didn’t want to specify if his group has a certain person in mind.
But he urged his group’s members in a conference call Sunday to petition delegates and other party leaders about who they think should be on the ticket.
“It has to be someone who both strengthens her resume and adds to some of the gaps she may face,” James said.
Here is a rundown of the rumored running mates Harris is considering:
Josh Shapiro
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s name has risen to the top of the list of potential VP contenders.
A former state attorney general like Harris, the 51-year-old Democrat is the Keystone State’s most popular governor in decades and could help deliver Democrats an electoral victory in the critical areas. His moderate stances and blue collar appeal may also prove to be an asset for Harris in other must-win Rust Belt states, including Wisconsin and Michigan.
That could prove especially important with Ohio Sen. JD Vance on the Republican ticket alongside Trump.
Michael Traugott, an emeritus research professor of political studies at the University of Michigan, said governors of battleground states are bound to be at the top of Harris’ list “because they want somebody with executive experience” who can benefit the vice president in the Electoral College hunt.
“It’s a little hard to figure precisely because we’re short the polling of assessing the actual democratic team against Trump and Vance,” he said.
Shapiro gained national recognition for his quick response to a 2023 I-95 overpass collapse, and, more recently, his leadership after the attempted assassination Trump in Butler, Pa. The latter earned him bipartisan praise, including from Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick.
One downside? Shapiro has led Pennsylvania as governor for only two years and is relatively inexperienced compared to several of the other VP contenders. He’s also unlikely to excite the party’s progressive base, given his position on the Israel-Hamas war.
Shapiro, who is Jewish, has yet to call for a cease fire.
Pete Buttigieg
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is perhaps the most well-known of the potential VP picks who could want the job. He achieved national fame in 2020 after launching a longshot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination and has maintained his status as a rising star while serving in the Biden administration.
During his failed 2020 White House campaign, Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., pitched himself as a plainspoken Democrat who could speak to Republicans and understood the problems of blue collar workers in midwestern battleground states. He notched a surprise victory in Iowa and did well with white, working class Democrats.
But in a general election, Buttigieg’s identity as an openly gay man makes some Democrats nervous about the ticket’s ability to bring conservative-leaning independent voters into a big tent, anti-Trump coalition.
Harris will already be judged more harshly because of her likely status as the first Black and Asian American woman to lead a major party ticket, those naysayers often say.
Andy Beshear
A two-term Democratic governor of a deeply conservative state, Kentucky’s Andy Beshear has demonstrated he can bring a broad group of voters into the Democratic fold, including Trump-Republicans and independents.
In a national election that is being increasingly framed around unity after the assassination attempt against Trump, Beshear’s bipartisan sensibilities could help Democrats temper accusations from Republicans of using inflammatory campaign rhetoric.
The 46-year-old governor may also be an effective messenger against Vance, who became famous for authoring the book Hillbilly Elegy about his Appalachian roots. Beshear, who represents portions of Appalachia in eastern Kentucky, has forcefully criticized Vance’s portrait of the region.
During Monday’s appearance on “Morning Joe,” for instance, the Bluegrass State governor laid into Trump’s running mate, saying: “I want the American people to know what a Kentuckian is and what they look like, cause JD Vance ain’t from here.”
Some Democrats, however, see the little-known Beshear as too safe a choice and one who doesn’t benefit Harris on the electoral map given Kentucky is a solidly red state. He’s relatively unvetted on the national stage compared to some of the other VP contenders.
JB Pritzker
As governor of Illinois, billionaire JB Pritzker has garnered a more progressive reputation than some of the other Democrats being considered for the VP post.
Choosing him as a running mate might help Harris shore-up support among the Democratic Party’s left flank.
Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt Hotel chain, has a net worth estimated at more than $3 billion – money that could come in handy during a contentious election year. He’s also part way through his second term as governor, which means he’s not currently campaigning for another office.
One point in the against-column for Pritzker: Illinois isn’t a battleground state, meaning he won’t help Harris carry any electoral votes. Illinois is also the host of the party’s 2024 convention, a role that the governor acknowledged on Monday puts him in a complicated position.
Roy Cooper
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has won six statewide elections in the 2024 battleground state, including two gubernatorial races.
Some Democrats believe that as VP, he could be a secret weapon for flipping the southern swing state from red to blue down the ballot this year.
Like Pritzker, Cooper is closing out his time in the governor’s mansion this year. And, he’s friendly with Harris. They both served as their state’s respective attorney general from 2011 to 2017, and she described him as a “dear friend” during a recent campaign rally.
Cooper’s age could work both ways for him. The North Carolina governor is 67, making him the oldest, and the most experienced, of the current VP contenders.
Mark Kelly
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly won two elections in the pivotal swing state in the last few years: a special election in 2020 to finish out the term of the late GOP Sen. John McCain, and a full term in 2022.
Traditional vice presidential selection criteria suggests that choosing Kelly as a running mate could help boost Democrats chances of winning the Sun Belt swing state.
Shannon O’Brien, a professor of American politics at the University of Texas at Austin, suggested that Kelly’s military experience as a former naval aviator and U.S. astronaut could help neutralize patriotic messaging from the Trump campaign, adding an air of masculinity to the Democratic ticket.
Kelly’s wife is a wildcard too. He’s married to former Rep. Gabby Giffords, a Democrat who can share the powerful story of surviving a gunshot to the head during a 2011 mass casualty event in Tuscon. That could prove to be an advantage in an election year when gun violence has again taken center stage, this time after Trump’s rally shooting.
“You can’t attack him on patriotism,” O’Brien said of Kelly. “The moment Trump starts going after him over an assassination attempt, he probably should shoot back, ‘Yeah you got grazed with a bullet. My wife took a bullet to the skull.’”
Kelly’s experience in Washington also sets him apart from the governors on the list.
Every vice president since Walter Mondale in 1977 previously served in the House or Senate first. For Kelly, those relationships with sitting lawmakers could help a future Harris administration in getting legislation passed.
