Now that Democrats have installed Kamala Harris as the presumptive 2024 nominee, focus is shifting to who Harris may pick as her running mate. The Vice President pick is typically about pure political calculus – geography, deficiency balance, demography balance – and Harris’s pick will be no different.
Here are a few of the leading candidates, in no particular order.
Mark Kelly probably has the most compelling biography in the Democratic Party. Combat pilot. Test pilot. Astronaut. Husband of a gun-violence victim (who happened to be a sitting congresswoman). Senator. The Kelly template is reminiscent of John Glenn’s, who pivoted from fighter pilot to the Mercury program, where he became the first American to orbit the Earth in Friendship VII, before serving as the US Senator from Ohio.
Glenn is an American icon, who enjoys broader name recognition than Kelly, for his early NASA exploits, although Kelly spent significantly more time in space (four Space Shuttle missions versus Glenn’s one Mercury mission).
Unlike Glenn, Kelly is not quite a national figure (politically). Yet Kelly has that moderate appeal (as a gun owner and Second Amendment supporter) that could help Harris attract independents. Oh, and Kelly represents Arizona – a vital swing state that will help decide the entire election.
“Perhaps nobody in the Democratic Party right now is a bigger rising star,” The Washington Post wrote of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. The former attorney general could become the first Jewish person ever elected on a presidential ticket and could help Harris compete for Pennsylvania’s all-important 19 electoral votes.
Shapiro could also help the Harris ticket appeal to independents and moderates. “More than 3 in 10 Pennsylvania Donald Trump supporters also supported Shapiro,” The Washington Post reported.
Shapiro, like Kelly, is newer to national politics – and may seem green for a national ticket.
Californian Kamala Harris could help bolster her credentials in the South with North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. The second-term governor is a household name in North Carolina, where he has served in office since the 1980s.
Cooper remains extremely popular in North Carolina, where has won five statewide campaigns – in years that Republicans carried the state for the presidential election. Cooper is the most experienced, and presumably, the most politically savvy name on Harris’s shortlist. Cooper is also older, however, at 67 – which may be more of a turn-off than usual, given the concerns over Biden’s age, and the hype over Harris’s relative youth.
Governor J.B. Pritzker is well-established in elite Democratic circles, and, not coincidentally, happens to be a billionaire. Accordingly, Pritzker could help bring some mainstream and financial clout to the ticket (not that the ticket will be lacking in either).
But while Pritzker has been a competent governor, he doesn’t have the geographic appeal; Illinois is a solidly blue state that Harris likely has in the bag. What Harris needs on the ticket is someone who can help her win votes she would not otherwise earn. Pritzker may prove to be an electoral redundancy.
Harrison Kass is a defense and national security writer with over 1,000 total pieces on issues involving global affairs. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
