With all the media attention on the Harris campaign lately, a lot of speculation has been going around about who Kamala Harris would pick as her running mate. The current shortlist has six finalists according to NBC and the New York Times. The selection of a suitable running mate has critical implications for the ticket, with their presence either hurting or helping the nominee. Now, as the final days of the vice presidential selection draw to a close, this article will be devoted to discussing the six picks in my opinion, and how they would each benefit or harm the ticket if selected.
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg of Michigan
Buttigieg is a rising star in the Democratic Party, and knowing his origins is key to understanding why. Buttigieg was a graduate of Harvard and attended Oxford under a Rhodes scholarship. After a career in the Navy, Buttigieg was elected mayor of South Bend, Indiana in 2011, during which he came out as gay in 2015. Buttigieg subsequently became one of the first openly gay men to launch a presidential campaign, which he did in 2019 for the Democratic nomination. Initial low expectations with his campaign were later squandered by his impressive performance in several town halls and primary debates and later led to him narrowly winning the Iowa caucuses and placing a close second in the New Hampshire primary. Months after his withdrawal from the Democratic primaries, Buttigieg was appointed secretary of transportation by President Biden and has been tasked with carrying out the bulk of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. For this, he was called “the most powerful secretary of transportation ever”. Buttigieg’s selection as a running mate would be helpful as he can serve as an effective speaker on Democratic speaking points. He, along with Governor Josh Shapiro who will be discussed later in the article, has been compared to Barack Obama in terms of speaking style.
Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona
Senator Kelly has an impressive personal story. Before being elected to the Senate in 2020, he was an astronaut and caught national attention as the wife of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was shot and survived in 2011. Kelly would bring a boost to the Harris campaign by playing the critical role of helping bring battleground state Arizona’s 11 electoral votes into the Democratic fold – which would be key in helping secure the presidency for Harris. However, Kelly has faced some detraction for his less-than-ideal views on labor from progressives.
Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois
Pritzker, an heir to the vast Hyatt hotel fortune, knocked out an incumbent Republican governor in 2018 and has held that office ever since. He has maintained wide support for his tenure and has been one of the few Illinois politicians not accused of corruption. Being from the Midwest Pritzker would provide a geographic balance to the ticket, and his support for progressive positions in Illinois would attract progressive voters. Additionally, his huge financial fortune would be a great boon to a Harris campaign. Pritzker, however, would not be the strong addition to the ticket as the other potential running mates, as he comes from a safe Democratic state and does not automatically appeal to swing voters.
Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania
Shapiro is a heavyweight in Pennsylvania politics, having served as the state’s attorney general and being elected governor in 2022. He has a record of impressive electoral performance, outrunning Biden in 2020 when he was re-elected the state’s attorney general and his gubernatorial bid in 2022 being a landslide win against a far-right Republican opponent. Shapiro is popular in Pennsylvania and would help deliver the battleground state’s crucial 19 electoral votes to the Harris campaign. However, Shapiro has received criticism from progressives for his pro-Israel stance, and there have been concerns that Shapiro’s presence on the ticket would dampen the newfound progressive enthusiasm for the Democratic ticket.
Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota
Walz is the favorite among progressives to be the vice presidential nominee. He first began his political career by being elected to Congress in 2006 from a rural, Republican-leaning district, holding that seat for six terms even as the Republican presence became stronger and stronger. Walz was elected governor of Minnesota in 2018, and while he was a moderate Democrat in Congress, he served by all accounts as a progressive Democratic governor. When the Democrats took full control of the Minnesota state legislature in 2023, Walz worked to pass several major progressive pieces of legislation into state law – paid leave, cannabis legalization, abortion rights, free school meals, and universal gun background checks among these. Walz has gone on the offensive against Republicans on TV appearances, pushing the narrative that Republican politicians especially Trump and Vance are “weird” and out-of-touch. For his progressive record and being from a Midwestern state, Walz’s addition to the ticket would be highly beneficial and make progressives more enthused to vote for Harris.
Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky
Beshear is a rare specimen for a Democrat – he is the governor of a state Trump won by more than 25 points in 2020. The son of a popular ex-governor, he first rose to elected office by being narrowly elected as the state’s attorney general in 2015. Beshear ran and narrowly defeated the state’s Republican governor in 2019, and was later re-elected to a second term in 2023 by an even wider margin. Beshear has maintained high approval ratings throughout his term as governor, which is remarkable for a Democrat in a red state. Beshear’s addition to the ticket would be helpful to Harris in attracting swing voters in the South and Midwest. He would also serve to attract voters in rural and deep-red areas of the country – as he has done in his three elections in deep-red Kentucky. He has a mix of the qualities that each one of the other candidates has. For these reasons, in my opinion, Beshear would make the best veep for Kamala Harris.
Credits: Getty Images, NYTimes
Emil Ordonez, a political science major at Fordham University, is the founder and editor-in-chief of Polinsights. He has been deeply passionate about politics and history since learning every U.S. President at the age of five. He was compelled to start this blog after meeting many people who were misinformed or had become apathetic about how society worked. He hopes to provide factual knowledge and insights that will encourage people, especially the young, to get more engaged in their respective communities. In his free time, he edits for Wikipedia and makes maps for elections. He aspires to work in Congress or even the White House in the future.
Leave a Reply