Ordinarily, a major party presidential campaign spends months scrutinizing potential running mates. Given the historically unusual circumstances surrounding President Joe Biden’s withdrawal, the compressed calendar and the Democratic Party’s looming virtual nominating process, Vice President Kamala Harris doesn’t have months.
She has about a week.
For the party’s likely nominee and her team, that’s the bad news. The good news is that Harris and her new political operation have an impressive short list that’s come together quickly. The New York Times reported:
Three people close to the campaign, who were not authorized to talk publicly, say that five people are under serious consideration: [Pennsylvania Gov. Josh] Shapiro, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and Govs. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Tim Walz of Minnesota and Andy Beshear of Kentucky. But that list, they warn, remains in flux.
This list is nearly identical to the list NBC News reported earlier in the week, though NBC News’ version included Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — who has said publicly that she’s not interested in national office, at least not this year — and the Times’ list includes Beshear.
But let’s not brush past that “remains in flux” part. In fact, while it’s easy to believe Harris’ ultimate choice will be one of the aforementioned names, there’s evidence of a widening aperture.
Take, for example, retired Adm. William McRaven, the former commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, who is perhaps best known to Americans as the Navy SEAL who oversaw the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden. There were rumors a few days ago that McRaven — a fierce and eloquent Trump critic who endorsed Biden four years ago — would get running mate consideration, and that chatter was apparently true.
“I am honored to have been considered as a possible running mate for Vice President Harris,” McRaven said in a statement last night. “However, there are far better candidates and I have removed my name from consideration.”
Around the same time, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Harris’ campaign has reached out to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker “to gauge his interest” in possibly joining the 2024 ticket.
CBS News ran a report of its own late yesterday, noting that there are “approximately a dozen” people being vetted as possible running mates. In addition to the names referenced above, the CBS News report also pointed to some Biden administration Cabinet officials — including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — who will receive a closer look. I won’t pretend to know who Harris is going to pick, but everyone I’ve spoken to in Democratic politics seemed to say roughly the same thing: They’re enjoying the “veepstakes” process enormously. “Everybody’s enjoying the moment and kind of thinking through scenarios and how exciting some of these combinations could be,” former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle told the Times. “It’s kind of fun.” Reiterating a point from earlier in the week, former Attorney General Eric Holder and his law firm are overseeing an intense vetting process, and I continue to feel sympathy for them. As a Politico report indicated, Harris appears likely to select her running mate “by the middle of next week.” Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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