Harris balances critical factors in 'lightning speed' VP choice
Vice President Kamala Harris will have to balance several critical factors as she launches a hurried search for a running mate, the first major decision of her nascent White House bid.
Harris, who capped off an under 48-hour whirlwind by earning verbal pledges from a majority of Democratic delegates on Monday, must weigh a multitude of electoral considerations, including electability, demographic and ideological balance and comfort, all on a condensed timetable. Meanwhile, would-be running mates are being asked for vetting documents and navigating whether and how to campaign to be her No. 2.
The scramble is all part of one of the most consequential decisions Harris will make the entire election cycle just days after President Joe Biden ended his own campaign.
"It's probably the most important thing that she's going to do in the next few weeks, because it'll be the first major decision that she makes," said Chuck Rocha, a veteran Democratic strategist and alumnus of Sen. Bernie Sanders', I-Vt., presidential campaign. "Everybody will be analyzing what and who she picked."
Several governors are in the mix to be Harris' pick, including Kentucky's Andy Beshear; North Carolina's Roy Cooper; Illinois' JB Pritzker, Pennsylvania's Josh Shapiro; and Minnesota's Tim Walz. Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly is also a contender.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was also whispered about as a possible running mate, but she took herself out of contention.
Several of those contenders hail from competitive states or competitive regions. Elevating such a person is a tried-and-true strategy to try to help improve one's chances in must-win or battleground areas -- though the theory only sometimes works in reality.
And all of them are white men, with Democrats speculating that such a profile might be needed to balance out a ticket topped by a historical figure in Harris, who is Black and would be the first woman and person of Indian descent in the Oval Office.
"It can be more challenging with male voters," said one aide to a person in the mix to be Harris' running mate. "I don't think we're just we're at a stage in American politics where, at least, as a Democrat, two white men could be a ticket. And I think two diverse candidates is probably not a ticket, either gender or ethnically diverse."
The balance is particularly prescient as Harris faces off against Trump, who rose to victory in 2016 on the back of support from white, blue-collar voters and fell short in 2020 after Biden regained some ground with that demographic, though not to level that former President Barack Obama performed during his two runs.
"They represent the diversity of America, and there's something to be said about being able to talk to labor…being able to talk to the entire country. We're not doubling down on an identity," said one source familiar with the veepstakes. "Instead, we're doubling down on the future."
Beyond all the contenders being white and from competitive areas, none are considered ideological flamethrowers, possibly helping bolster contrasts surrounding Trump's "extremism" and forecasting how she would govern to voters sifting through the unprecedented upheaval in the race.
"This is the vice president's opportunity to demonstrate to these moderate and more independent-minded voters who weren't too satisfied with either Trump or Biden to show that she has their interests in mind and demonstrate to them that she will not be a left-wing president," said one source familiar with the Harris campaign's strategy.
One aspect of governing is working with allies in Congress and in governor's mansions, and the promotion of some of the would-be contenders would set up a special election in a tough state or, in the case of Beshear, likely hand the governor's mansion to Republicans.
But with such an emphasis on defeating Trump, that might be less of a factor for Democrats.
"Some things are next year's problem," said Jamal Simmons, Harris' former communications director in the Biden administration.
There are also intangible factors that Harris is expected to consider.
First, naturally, is readiness to govern should something happen to her. But, as Harris knows, the vice presidency is a role often defined by the president's priorities rather than the agenda of the office's occupant, making comfort between the president and their right-hand man or woman all the more important.
Harris, a former state attorney general, overlapped with Beshear and Cooper while they too where the attorneys general of their states. However, Biden did not have much of an existing relationship with Harris before tapping her -- a decision that followed a famous scrap between the two on the debate stage that was rumored to have left some hard feelings.
"That's number one," the source familiar with the search said of how important comfort is between Harris and a possible running mate.
"That's gonna be her choice. She and Dougie will make that choice together," the person added, referencing Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff.
All that calculus has to be completed on an expedited timetable.
Democrats are huddling for their nominating convention later in August, and a virtual roll call will be held even earlier, putting an atypical amount of pressure on an already weighty decision.
"If you think about history, these processes have taken six or eight weeks, and I think you're probably looking at two-to-three weeks," said the aide to one of the veepstakes contenders, noting the upcoming convention. "I think it's going to be on lightning speed because of that."
Aiding Harris in the search is the contenders' already beefy résumés.
Democratic strategists told ABC News they're not concerned about anything slipping through the cracks during an expedited vetting process, given that each candidate has proven their mettle on a statewide level.
"Anybody who's run campaigns for more than 30 seconds knows that in a big state, there's going to be oppo research done and dumped on everybody who ran. So, we've seen that, and we know what's out there," Rocha said.
As the process ramps up, would-be running mates have begun auditioning.
Beshear, Cooper, Pritzker and Walz have all appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," a must-watch program for plugged-in Democrats. Whitmer has been bouncing around Michigan as co-chair of Harris' campaign. And Kelly and Shapiro, like others, swiftly endorsed her as Biden's replacement on Sunday.
The entire party is coming out in force behind Harris, especially amid fierce warnings about a second Trump term, but those vying to join her on the ticket are expected to continue to be front-and-center for Democrats.
"You're going to see these people out there, and it's not going to be them necessarily jockeying for the position, it's just going to be them trying to get the word out and making the case for President Harris. But obviously, those that are going to be in the mix are going to be more prominent," one Democratic pollster said.
Still, even after a pick is made, everyone in contention is expected to be tapped for an all-hands-on-deck sprint to Nov. 5.
"It's the Avengers," said the source familiar with the process, comparing Democrats to Earth's movie superheroes who had to come together as a team to defeat their nemesis and save the world.
