ANALYSIS – And will he help her beat Trump-Vance? The whirlwind, media-hyped Harris veepstakes are almost over. Who will she pick and will it matter?
Democratic nominee Kamala Harris must now decide whether to pick a VP candidate who can appeal to parts of the electorate she doesn’t reach or focus on one who can help her govern if she wins in November.
She seems to have narrowed her choice to three candidates, all left or very left. And she will be announcing her pick on Tuesday, August 6.
But might the left-wing California radical choose someone else? And more importantly, can they beat the Trump-Vance ticket?
With the Democratic presidential nomination now settled, Harris has been talking to three leading contenders to be her running mate for vice president, with two other candidates still in the running.
Former Navy pilot and NASA astronaut, Senator Mark Kelly, 60, of Arizona has a great profile to win over independent and even some conservative voters, having won the seat vacated by former Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
He also has a certain cool factor. I warned that Harris could pick him in an earlier piece. He has been strong on border control but also on gun safety – his wife former Rep. Gabby Giffords, survived an assassination attempt. But that’s a negative to us gun rights voters.
Kelly brings with him a lot of potential donors, having raised $200m in his two campaigns for Senate in 2020 and 2022, and could help carry crucial swing states, including Arizona.
But some say he is too boring.
Progressives’ favorite, Governor Tim Walz, age 60, of Minnesota, has a strong record of far-left policies in his home state, but as a former member of the NRA can also allegedly talk to Second Amendment supporters. He is a former teacher, high school football coach, member of Congress, high-ranking member of the National Guard.
His 12 years in Congress has given him plenty of political experience and he is well-backed by labor, but he lacks national name recognition. And Minnesota isn’t as likely to flip as, say Pennsylvania.
Governor Josh Shapiro, 51, of Pennsylvania, a real key swing state, could also help moderate Harris’ image among independent voters in the rust belt, with one of the highest favorability ratings among swing state Democrats.
His VP star was recently seen to be rising.
In 2020, running as state attorney general, he outperformed Biden, winning more votes than any other statewide candidate there in history.
As an observant Jew he is comfortable talking faith in a way many other potential nominees are not, but his pro-Israel stance could also turn off young and Muslim voters.
More to the point, far-left wing and pro-Hamas activists have shown their strong antisemitic values by campaigning hard against Shapiro for VP simply because he is a Jew.
Then, there is the matter of experience. Harris’ campaign said she is looking for a governing partner with an executive’s profile. Shapiro is barely two years into his first term and isn’t nationally known.
Seemingly, not in the top three are Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.
At 42, Buttigieg is among the Democratic Party’s youngest, but also most left wing. He has accomplished little at Transportation, except catastrophes, and being openly gay won’t help an already far left Harris.
And then there is relatively moderate Governor Andy Beshear, the 46-year-old Kentucky governor. He is the rare Democrat with red-state appeal, having won statewide in red Kentucky three times.
But Beshear, isn’t well-known, is seen as boring, and only won both of his gubernatorial races narrowly. Kentucky is also nowhere close to being a swing state.
We shall soon see what the Harris ticket will finally look like. Will it be radically far left, or just far-left?
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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