Kamala Harris will unveil her vice presidential running mate on Tuesday, her first major decision as the Democratic presidential nominee and another step in her quest to take the top White House seat in November.
Harris, the first woman and the first black and South Asian to hold the vice presidential post, has narrowed her list of candidates to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly sources told Reuters on Monday, after reviewing a list of finalists made up of white men with experience winning over rural, white or independent voters.
A campaign official said Monday night that no calls had been made about the selection, suggesting that Harris had not told her potential running mates who would get the job.
Harris became the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer after President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign last month. Since then, she has raised hundreds of millions of dollars and realigned herself with Republican Donald Trump, energised by her party.
Although she has gained enough delegates to become her party’s nominee, the Democratic National Committee said late Monday night that she had officially clinched the nomination.
Potential candidates
Harris is expected to appear with her candidate at an event in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. Her selection will demonstrate what she thinks is the best path to the presidency and show who she thinks would be an effective running mate if Trump wins.
Shapiro is governor of the biggest “swing” state (where the odds of a Democrat and Republican winning are virtually equal) – Pennsylvania. He provides 19 electoral votes out of the 270 needed to win a presidential election. The governor has a similar career background to Harris: prior to his governorship, from 2017-2023, Shapiro was Pennsylvania’s attorney general (Harris was California’s attorney general from 2011 to 2017).
Walz, while not representing a swing state, is relatively popular with members of the left wing of the Democratic Party. He has been endorsed by one of its leaders, Senator Bernie Sanders and several other fellow party members in the House of Representatives. Before entering politics, Walz was a professional military officer.
The third possible candidate, Mark Kelly, represents another swing state in the Senate, Arizona (11 electoral votes), which until recently was considered Republican. The very fact that Kelly managed to get elected there speaks volumes about his ability to attract undecided and even conservative voters to his side. Prior to his political career, Kelly was an astronaut.
Claims have been made against Kelly by left-leaning voters for his unwillingness to vote for a bill making it easier for workers to form unions. But Kelly has already assured he will support the document if it comes up for a vote in the Senate.
