Vice President Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic Party nominee, will announce her running mate in the upcoming days from a short list that includes Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
Vice presidential candidates are often chosen to add something to the ticket that the top candidate lacks, such as geographical or demographic identity or the ability to help win a swing state.
An added factor in this case is that Harris is a latecomer to the race, according to Aaron Dusso, a professor of political science at the University of Indiana–Indianapolis.
“That means voters will be learning a lot about her over the next three months,” Dusso told The Epoch Times. “[They] will be learning about both of them at the same time, and that could make this vice presidential pick more impactful than is normally the case.”
Josh Shapiro
Some analysts say Shapiro, 51, is the best choice to join the Harris ticket. He won his 2022 gubernatorial election by a 15-point margin, making him a rising star in Democrat politics.He has a 49 percent approval rating in a state that is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. President Joe Biden won Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes by 0.2 percentage points in 2020.
“[Shapiro] gives them a fighting chance in Pennsylvania, and that’s the ballgame,” political strategist Kevin Sheridan told The Epoch Times.
But that comes with a drawback: Many Democrats see the governor as insufficiently concerned about the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
“The downside for Democrats is if he reignites the Hamas wing of the party and they get major protests and violence in Chicago,” Sheridan said, referring to the upcoming party convention in the Windy City.
Shapiro graduated from Georgetown University Law Center. In 2004, he was elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature, flipping a seat Republicans had held for decades. He later became the first Democrat since the Civil War to chair the Montgomery County Commission.
Elected as the state’s attorney general in 2016, he prosecuted more than 6,500 drug dealers and seized more than 1.5 million doses of fentanyl.
Mark Kelly
Kelly, 60, can help Harris in Arizona, a must-win state, according to strategist Brian Darling. Democrats carried Arizona with its 11 electoral votes by less than 1 percentage point in 2020.
A potential liability for Kelly is that World View Enterprises, a company he co-founded in 2012, received investment funding from the Chinese tech company Tencent. World View Enterprises, which provides aerial surveillance balloons and other technology to both the U.S. military and private businesses, says Kelly no longer has any connection with it.
Kelly was a U.S. Navy combat pilot and NASA astronaut before his election to the U.S. Senate in 2020.
After joining NASA in 1996 with his twin brother, Scott, Kelly flew four missions on the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2001 before commanding its last mission in 2011, spending a total of 50 days in space through his career.
“When you’re looking down from space at Earth, it really puts it into perspective that we’re all in this together,” he said about his career at NASA.
Andy Beshear
At age 46, Beshear has the advantage of youthfulness, according to Ken Kollman, a professor of political science at the University of Michigan.In 2018, Beshear was elected governor of Kentucky, in which Republicans have a supermajority in both houses of the state’s General Assembly.
“Adding a person who is from the South would help give the ticket geographic balance,” Dusso said. “He would be an interesting choice that moves a bit outside what would be considered ‘safe.’”
However, Kentucky is not a swing state. It has opted for Republican candidates in the past six presidential elections.
In Beshear’s first term as governor, he announced $29 billion in private-sector investments for nearly 1,000 economic development projects to create roughly 51,300 full-time jobs.
He worked to create the $500 million Cleaner Water Program to provide clean drinking water to thousands in the state for the first time.
Before that, he served as the state’s attorney general and sued former Gov. Matt Bevin multiple times over alleged abuse of executive powers. He secured a $17 million settlement with the Bayer Corp. over claims of misleading women about blood clot risks associated with birth control drugs.
Beshear also sued nine companies that manufacture or distribute prescription opioids.
Tim Walz
Walz, 60, is perceived as someone who can speak to swing state voters, although he is not from a swing state, Darling said.Minnesota is one of the most reliably Democrat states in presidential elections—it hasn’t voted for a Republican in 52 years.
Like Beshear, Walz was suggested by the nearly 50 progressive leaders who urged Harris not to select Shapiro as her running mate.
Walz is an Army National Guard veteran and former high school teacher. He served six terms in Congress beginning in 2007 and was the highest-ranking enlisted soldier to serve in the U.S. Congress. He was rated the seventh most bipartisan representative in the 114th Congress by the Lugar Center at Georgetown University.
Walz spearheaded a plan to provide universal free school meals, has pushed to get Minnesota on 100 percent “clean electricity” by 2040, and expanded paid leave for workers. He also worked to preserve Minnesota’s Health Care Access Fund and lowered taxes on seniors and small businesses.
Pete Buttigieg
Most of the analysts The Epoch Times spoke with consider Buttigieg, 42, the least likely choice.He gained significant name recognition through his 2020 presidential campaign, in which he won the Democratic Iowa caucuses, ultimately becoming a Cabinet member in the Biden administration.
Buttigieg lives in Michigan, a swing state that Democrats carried by 2.8 percentage points in 2020. The state now has 15 electoral votes.
However, Buttigieg’s Michigan roots do not run deep. He relocated there in 2021 after serving as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, from 2012 to 2020.
“I don’t see any upside to putting Secretary Pete Buttigieg on the ticket,” Darling said, noting that he has little executive experience.
He briefly ran for Democratic National Committee chairman in 2017 but eventually withdrew from the race.
As transportation secretary, Buttigieg has supported Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act, introduced a national roadway safety strategy, and awarded more than $9.5 billion through more than 800 projects to enhance transportation in communities nationwide.
Harris is expected to announce her selection at a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Aug. 6 at 7 p.m.
