If she becomes the Democratic presidential nominee, as many people expect, Vice President Kamala Harris will have a wide variety of potential running mates, many from battleground states crucial to both parties in the 2024 presidential race.
Conventional wisdom suggests the choice of a swing state candidate would be wise, but such a pick is no guarantee the Democrats would carry the state. That thought could open the door to other politicians who have simply shown an ability to appeal to voters across the country’s sharp ideological divide.
Here’s a quick look at those believed to be leading contenders to fill out the ticket if Harris secures the nomination.
Cooper became governor in 2017 after a long career in politics in a state that Democrats have closely contested in recent presidential elections.
Cooper gained national acclaim in 2016 when, as attorney general, he opposed “House Bill 2,” a measure that required individuals to use bathrooms based on their gender identity assigned at birth. Cooper denounced the law as unconstitutional and declined to go to court to defend it.
The law led to protests nationwide, with a variety of corporations declining to do business in North Carolina. One estimate put the economic damage to the state at $3.76 billion, as many entertainers, sports teams and others said they would no longer do business there.
In 2017, the year following the law’s enactment, it was partially repealed by the North Carolina Legislature, a reversal supported by Cooper. Most of the rest of the legislation lapsed in 2020 because of a sunset provision.
Cooper took on incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, who had backed the so-called bathroom bill. Though Cooper surged to a clear advantage in the voting in the 2016 race, McCrory claimed voter fraud, without offering proof. Recounts ended up expanding Cooper’s lead and McCrory finally conceded, a month after the election.
Now in his second term, the 67-year-old Cooper has a deep political history in the swing state — having served for almost two decades in the North Carolina House and Senate. He won the state attorney general’s office in 2000, before ascending to the state’s top political job.
Shapiro beat a right-wing, Donald Trump-backed opponent to win office in 2022, keeping the Keystone State in the hands of two consecutive Democratic governors, a rarity. At just 51, the popular Shapiro would bring a youthful tone to the Democratic ticket.
He gained national attention when Interstate 95 collapsed in June 2023 and reopened only about two weeks later. More recently, his words of condolence and solace after former President Trump was wounded during a rally in Butler, Pa., brought him praise from members of both parties.
Some political observers have said that, as a Jew and a strong supporter of Israel, Shapiro would help bring in the votes of some Jewish voters who have been alienated from the party following the Hamas attack and subsequent pro-Palestinian protests.
Shapiro also has experience working in a divided government, with Democrats and Republicans each controlling one of Pennsylvania’s legislative chambers.
Shapiro took to social media Sunday to praise Biden, calling him a patriot and adding: “President Biden has gotten an incredible amount done to move our country forward, defend our democracy, and protect real freedom.”
For those looking for early signs of currying favor, there’s this: Shapiro was one of the first of the possible veep candidates to issue a statement giving a full-throated endorsement of Harris as the Democratic nominee. He said both he and Harris has once been criminal prosecutors. Shapiro called Harris “a patriot worthy of our support.”
Whitmer has twice won election in a swing state that Democrats see as a key to maintaining control of the White House.
The 52-year-old governor became a particular hero of Democrats after it was revealed that she was the target of a kidnapping plot by right-wing extremists.
She has been particularly strong on arguing for women’s rights and reproductive freedom following the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the right to abortion. Whitmer had called for Biden to speak out more aggressively on that issue, which polls show creates an advantage for Democrats.
After Biden announced that he was getting out of the race, Whitmer posted on social media that “my job in this election will remain the same: doing everything I can to elect Democrats and stop Donald Trump, a convicted felon whose agenda of raising families’ costs, banning abortion nationwide, and abusing the power of the White House to settle his own scores is completely wrong for Michigan.”
Christopher J. Devine, a political scientist at the University of Dayton in Ohio, said Whitmer “is appealing because she is an experienced, second-term governor who has been prominent on the national stage and by most accounts has performed quite well.”
Devine is co-author, with Kyle C. Kopko of “Do Running Mates Matter? The Influence of Vice Presidential Candidates in Presidential Elections.” Their conclusion: to some degree, yes.
At just 46, Beshear would also bring youthful vigor to the Democrats, who will be taking on a GOP team that includes VP pick J.D. Vance, the 39-year-old senator from Ohio.
Beshear has managed to form his own political identity, not tied to the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. A former state attorney general who won the governorship in 2019, Beshear struck a blow for voting rights in 2019 when he signed an executive order restoring the right to vote for 180,315 Kentuckians, many of them Black, who had been convicted of nonviolent felonies.
Beshear has sought to expand his national profile by launching a political action committee to back Democrats in other red and swing states.
Like others under consideration for a spot on the ticket, Beshear was careful not to push for Biden to move on.
Warnock showed his ability to triumph in a closely divided state in the same election that put Biden in the White House. His narrow victory helped give the Democrats their Senate majority.
A Baptist minister, Warnock was the senior pastor at Ebenezer Bapitst Church — the same Atlanta church that brought Martin Luther King Jr. to fame. Before taking to politics, the 54-year-old Warnock led a drive to expand Medicaid coverage in Georgia and also chaired a nonpartisan organization that expanded voter registration.
Kelly is a centrist who won election in 2020. He has the sort of apolitical background that might appeal to many voters, especially independents.
Kelly, 60, served as a Navy combat pilot and went on to become an astronaut, like his twin brother, Scott.
He came to national attention when his wife, then U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was shot in the head and nearly killed while meeting with constituents in 2011 at an event near Tucson. The shooting killed six people and wounded a dozen others, besides Giffords.
The episode turned both Giffords and her husband into high-profile advocates for gun control, a role Giffords has pursued vigorously following her 2012 resignation from Congress.
Like Shapiro, Kelly expressed immediate support for Harris as the leader of Democrats nationally. In a post on the social media site X he called her “the right person to defeat Donald Trump and lead our country into the future.”
Buttigieg, 42, had been a little-known mayor of South Bend, Ind., when he campaigned for president against Biden, Harris and a large field of other Democrats in 2020.
“Mayor Pete,” as he was often called, stunned many experts by finishing in a close 1-2 with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Iowa caucus. Buttigieg then finished second to Sanders in the New Hampshire primary, before a fourth-place finish in the South Carolina primary forced him out of the race.
Like Harris, who could become the first woman president, Buttigieg is also a potential ground-breaker. He would be the first openly LGBTQ+ individual elected on a presidential ticket.
As a United States Navy veteran who served in Afghanistan, he would bring military experience to the Democratic ticket, matching the armed forces background of the GOP’s Vance, who served in the Marine Corps.
Buttigieg has served as Transportation secretary under Biden and is valued by Democrats as a nimble and charismatic retail politician, with sharp debating skills. He was one of many Democrats who quickly rallied to Harris’ side Sunday, with a social media post: “I will do all that I can to help elect Kamala Harris the next President of the United States.”
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