Who will be Kamala Harris’s running-mate?
Editor’s note: This story was updated on August 2nd.
KAMALA HARRIS, the presumptive Democratic nominee, is running a sped-up campaign. With less than four months until the election, she will announce her vice-presidential pick within days: she has scheduled a rally with her running-mate on August 6th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A VP can enhance a ticket—and, in theory, help bring support from voters that the candidate herself might not squarely appeal to—but rarely tips the scales. Ms Harris is reportedly interviewing these six people for the job.
Andy Beshear, governor of Kentucky
Mr Beshear is a vanishingly rare animal these days: a Democratic governor in a deep-red state (Mr Trump won Kentucky with about two-thirds of the vote in 2020). His low-key style, pragmatic politics and pedigree—his father occupied the same office—all help. A poll in April 2024 by Morning Consult ranked Mr Beshear as the most popular sitting Democratic governor, with an approval rating of 65%, and the fourth-most popular overall. Last year he won re-election by touting the state’s low unemployment, large budget surplus and big factory investments by carmakers. But a Republican supermajority in the state legislature has made it difficult to block laws that he dislikes: Republicans overrode 20 of his 23 vetoes in the past legislative session.
Pete Buttigieg, transportation secretary
A graduate of Harvard and Oxford, former McKinsey consultant and navy veteran, Mr Buttigieg looks and sounds like many moderate, buttoned-up Democratic politicians before him—except for the fact that he is married to a man. He would be the first openly gay person on a major party’s ticket. Few voters outside his home state of Indiana had heard of Mr Buttigieg before his run in the Democratic primary in 2020, when he won the first nominating contest, in Iowa, before eventually dropping out. He was known throughout that campaign as “Mayor Pete”: his only elected office has been the mayoralty of South Bend, Indiana (population roughly 100,000). Mr Biden later made him transportation secretary and put him in charge of distributing $126bn of federal money, part of a big infrastructure law passed in 2021. These days he is busy defending Mr Biden’s electric-vehicle subsidies against Republican attacks.
Mark Kelly, senator from Arizona
Joe Biden’s polling in the sunbelt (which includes swing states such as Arizona, Georgia and Nevada) was poor, prompting his campaign to focus more on the rustbelt (Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin). The presence of Mr Kelly’s name in the mix suggests that Ms Harris believes that Arizona is in play. A Navy fighter pilot turned astronaut, Mr Kelly won his Senate seat in 2020, running as a moderate in a special election held after John McCain, a centrist Republican, died. Mr Kelly’s start in politics was sparked by tragedy: in 2011 his wife, Gabby Giffords, a member of the House of Representatives, was critically wounded in a mass shooting that killed six others. He and Ms Giffords started a political action committee dedicated to finding solutions to gun violence. His selection, however, would trigger a special election, risking a Democratic seat in the Senate.
J.B. Pritzker, governor of Illinois
On paper Mr Pritzker is not an obvious choice. He is from Chicago—a city Republicans loathe—and a billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune. But he has built a reputation for political ruthlessness. In the midterms in 2022 he won re-election; helped strengthen the Democratic supermajority in the Illinois state legislature by championing popular policies; and helped expand his party’s House delegation to a stonking 14 out of 17 seats, partly through financial support and signing off on new redistricting maps. He has signed plenty of progressive legislation—expanding paid leave, banning assault rifles and eliminating cash bail—all while keeping moderates onside. Nationally he has used his abortion-rights lobbying group, Think Big America, to spread his influence, and he is popular among Democratic activists. Despite his wealth, he did not have an easy upbringing. His father died suddenly when he was seven; his alcoholic mother died in a car crash ten years later.
Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania
Being governor is “the only job I want to do”, said the 51-year-old Mr Shapiro in 2023. But his electoral success in purple Pennsylvania may push him to the top of Ms Harris’s list. A moderate, Mr Shapiro often sounded Republican on the trail in 2022. He had support from the left, centrists and even some Republicans—no small thing in a presidential battleground. He trounced his opponent in a well-funded race, becoming the first Pennsylvania Democrat to succeed a Democratic incumbent in 64 years. His motto, “Get stuff done” (or “Get shit done”, depending on his audience), is not just talk. Unusually for a Democrat, he is a proponent of school vouchers. Last year his speedy reopening of I-95, a vital motorway that collapsed, won plaudits. As attorney-general, he was in the national headlines for his bombshell investigation into sexual abuse in the Catholic church. A proudly observant Jew, he grew up outside Philadelphia; he is the son of a teacher and a former naval officer who inspired him to be a public servant.
Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota
Mr Walz’s rural Midwestern credentials could complement Ms Harris’s San Francisco roots. A former high-school teacher, American-football coach and Army National Guardsman, he is an effective communicator. One of his recent lines of attack, describing MAGA Republicans as “just weird”, was quickly adopted by the Harris campaign. Minnesota has not sprung for a Republican presidential candidate since 1972, but it borders critical swing states. Mr Walz is more progressive than others on this list, having overseen gun restrictions and marijuana legalisation. But a proud hunter and gun-owner who has introduced paid family-leave, he is popular among the white working-class, too. Republicans will surely attack his handling of protests in Minneapolis in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer. Mr Walz called in the National Guard only after days of unrest. ■