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Louise Thomas
Editor
Vice President Kamala Harris has continued to build on her momentum since the Democratic Party coalesced around her. A new poll showed that she has made significant inroads with Latino voters and during the White Women for Harris fundraiser last week, she reportedly raised $20,000 per minute.
But with the election 99 days away, Harris has to clear every hoop to have a chance at beating Donald Trump. That means she must ace her first big task: picking the person to run against Senator JD Vance as her running mate.
Historically, running mates have had a minimal effect on the top of the ticket. This time is different; similar to Barack Obama in 2008, Harris remains untested on the national stage and her 2020 campaign ended before the Iowa caucus. This means the running mate selection will have even higher salience.
Here’s The Independent’s ranking of who’s doing all the right moves in the veepstakes.
1. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona
Kelly is seen as a safe pick. Having outperformed President Joe Biden and Harris in 2020 when he won a special election, he blew out an ultra-MAGA candidate in 2022. More interestingly, last week, after having not been a sponsor of it, Kelly announced he would vote for the PRO Act, which would make it easier for workers to unionize, after he had not sponsored the bill.
“My mother was a police officer and after she was injured on the job apprehending a criminal, it was the union that helped her get her benefits,” he told The Independent last week. “And for that reason, you know, I've always said I would vote for the PRO Act... we're going to try to make it better.”
A military veteran, Kelly would also add some national security credentials when Harris needs them most.
2. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz
Democrats can’t turn on any news channel without seeing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz going on the attack against Republicans. Particularly he has lobbed an attack that seems to have stuck: Republicans are weird. Democrats, including the Harris campaign, have since repeated the attacks on Republicans, including Trump and Vance.
When Trump came to Minnesota for a campaign rally, he held a counter-event. A former high school teacher and football coach could help bolster Harris not only in Minnesota but also in states like Wisconsin. But he will inevitably face questions about how he went from a pro-gun rural Democrat to a more progressive governor.
3. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro
Governor Josh Shapiro had the distinct honor of campaigning with Harris this weekend in his home state. Republicans like former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway floated Shapiro as a running mate idea before Biden dropped out.
Some pro-Palestine activists have criticized him for his clamping down on campus protests, even though he, like many Jewish Americans, has sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
But just as Kelly faced increased scrutiny about his lack of support for the PRO Act, Shapiro will likely face questions about his previous failed for school vouchers in Pennsylvania. That will likely rankle some, given the fact that Harris spoke just last week to the American Federation of Teachers, one of the most influential unions.
4. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper
On Monday, the North Carolina governor will participate in a Zoom Call entitled White Dudes for Harris, which is fitting since he supported her before many other white dudes did.
On the surface, Roy Cooper seems like the most obvious choice for Harris. They’re legitimate friends going back to Harris’s days as California attorney general and Cooper holding the same job in North Carolina. Harris has visited North Carolina regularly throughout her tenure as vice president as Biden wanted to make a play in the state.
He also clears the “Do No Harm” principle of being a running mate. As a soft-spoken moderate governor from a southern state, he can seek to bolster Harris’s standing with white southerners who were essential to Obama’s victory in the Tar Heel state in 2008.
Cooper has fallen in the rankings not necessarily for anything he did wrong as much as other candidates have shot up. As of right now, the term-limited governor of North Carolina seems like the fallback choice for Harris, which is to say he is the safest choice if other higher-profile choices don’t pan out.
5. Andy Beshear
The Kentucky Governor came rushing out the gate regularly defending Harris, but moreover for hitting Vance for supposedly not being a real Appalachian Hillbilly — Vance grew up in Middletown, Ohio, which is not in the Appalachian area, though Vance’s grandparents were from just across the river in Kentucky. But Beshear has come off a bit too earnest and a bit too green and has fallen off most people’s radars.
OUT:
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer
For months after her re-election, many had questioned whether Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer would run for the White House. That chorus grew louder after Biden’s disastrous debate performance last month. But on Monday, she told Morning Joe: “I’m not a part of the vetting.”
Wild card:
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg
Buttigieg was not in the initial rumblings about who should be a Harris running mate. But last week, former House Majority Whip James Clyburn, the man most people credit with making Biden president, said on MSNBC that “he’s been a fantastic Secretary of Transportation. He would make an outstanding VP.”
That’s an endorsement Buttigieg needs for one reason alone: during his 2020 campaign, Buttigieg never fully earned the trust of Black voters and he won just one contest in the overwhelmingly white Iowa. But the dean of the South Carolina Democratic delegation and one of the most senior Black elected officials in Washington endorsing him could give him a boost.
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