Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear made a conspicuous appearance on “Morning Joe.” Tim Walz is directing harsh and personal criticism at JD Vance. North Carolina Democratic delegation endorsed Gov. Roy Cooper, and Pennsylvania Democrats are pushing Gov. Josh Shapiro.
The race to be Kamala Harris’ running mate is well underway — and much of the early campaigning has hardly been subtle.
“These are the great audition times,” said Sacha Haworth, a Democratic strategist. “This is going to be a very fast vetting process, and therefore, it’s going to be a very intense vetting process.”
In addition to Beshear, Cooper and and Shapiro, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona is frequently mentioned as a potential candidate. Democratic strategists also listed Walz as another potential dark horse contender, citing his Midwestern background.
Walz, like Beshear, has also been making high-profile TV appearances this week, appearing on Fox News to mock Republicans for, in his words, being stuck with Trump as the party’s nominee.
The Minnesota governor’s eagerness to appear on TV to defend Harris stands in stark contrast with other potential running mates who have publicly stated that they aren’t interested in the position, like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who said flatly this week that she will remain as the state’s chief executive.
Cooper and Shapiro, for their part, stopped short of saying they wouldn’t take the position if offered, opting instead to call the running mate question a “hypothetical” or a discussion that shouldn’t happen this week.
“I think it’s really important that we keep the focus on her this week,” Cooper said. “The vice presidential conversation needs to occur later.”
The public jockeying mirrors internal debates among Democratic operatives, where many strategists say the process of selecting a running mate is even more important for Harris than usual for a presidential nominee. Many of them say that it’s no accident that each of the leading contenders is a white man, generally seen as a more centrist politician or, except in Kelly’s case, a sitting governor.
“There’s probably only so much appetite for pushing boundaries in one election,” said Caitlin Legacki, a Democratic strategist. “So making sure she’s able to capture that excitement but still send a message that we’re not going to go crazy is going to be more helpful with your more moderate or conservative voters.”
Legacki cited Cooper’s apparent comfort with Harris — the two struck up a friendship when they were both attorneys general and have campaigned together regularly in North Carolina this year — as a reason she thought Harris could pick him as her running mate. Beshear and Shapiro would make strong candidates too, she added, but said their youth and evident ambition for higher office might make for a more awkward fit with Harris.
The Harris campaign said any reports on a possible Harris running mate is “premature” and “speculative.”
“Any reporting on developments or updates in Vice President Harris’ running mate search are premature and speculative,” campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz told NOTUS. “Vice President Harris is considering a large pool of qualified candidates, and will choose a partner that shares her commitment to fighting for the middle class, protecting Americans’ freedoms, and protecting our democracy. And when that candidate is chosen, together, they will handedly defeat the Trump-Vance ticket in November.”
No hopeful has been more explicit in his interest than Beshear, who made headlines with a jab at JD Vance about not actually being from the governor’s home state of Kentucky. Allies of his say he wants the job and should be given serious consideration for it.
“Andy’s the front-runner for that job — there’s no two ways about it. He’s been going on TV, he’s been kicking the shit out of JD Vance,” one Kentucky Democratic consultant said, who spoke anonymously in order to be frank. “It’s his to lose.”
“The moment deserves a boring white guy. It doesn’t get more white bread than Andy,” they added.
Those involved in Kentucky politics said it’s a big sign he wants the job and a big pro to his candidacy; he’s uniquely suited to attack Trump’s VP.
“They’re doing what they need to do, which is, he’s the only person of anybody on that list that can take out Vance and nullify Vance and be more credible than Vance, on Vance’s number one topic, which is this meteoric rise out of the ashes of Appalachia,” Kentucky Democratic consultant Jared Smith said.
Beshear has served as governor since 2019, when he unseated a Republican incumbent backed by Trump and had won a state-wide election before as attorney general.
In Arizona, Kelly has been far less conspicuous this week, but Democrats in his state say they are rooting for him to be the nominee regardless.
“On paper, Kelly is quite an addition to a Harris presidential campaign,” Sam Richard, senior director at Consilium Consulting and a veteran Democratic political consultant in Arizona, told NOTUS. “He checks a lot of boxes.”
Kelly is a Navy combat veteran and former astronaut and husband to the beloved former Rep. Gabby Giffords, whose congressional career was cut short after being shot in 2011. Arizona Democrats contend that Kelly brings national and border security credentials to the ticket, in addition to being able to make the case for the Biden administration’s key legislative achievements as one of the leading senators on the CHIPS and Science Act.
A moderate senator from a border swing state, Kelly has been an advocate for gun control while being an avid gun owner. Kelly, Democrats argue, makes clinching Arizona’s electoral votes a likelier possibility than if Biden had remained on the top of the ticket. “A ticket with Mark Kelly could put Arizona right back into contention as a state Harris can win,” longtime Arizona Democratic communications operative Robbie Sherwood told NOTUS.
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Alex Roarty is a reporter at NOTUS. Tara Kavaler and Casey Murray are NOTUS reporters and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellows.