The race is on to become Kamala Harris’ VP pick

The potential candidates vying to join Vice President Kamala Harris on the Democratic ticket have been thrust into a selection process under a compressed timeline — accelerating various factions’ push for their preferred pick.

Already, members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation are pushing their state’s governor, Roy Cooper. Pennsylvanians are championing Gov. Josh Shapiro, who won election two years ago by an almost 15-point margin in the crucial swing state. Some Senate Democrats have strong praise for their colleague Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona.

And the potential contenders are appearing on cable news shows and speaking at public events, raising their profiles in the unspoken audition process to be second in command.

“What I am focused on is making sure we don't go back to Donald Trump's chaos, and that we elect Kamala Harris the next president of the United States,” Shapiro said at an EPA event this week when asked whether he’s interested in serving as Harris’ running mate. “I will tell you that I have known the vice president for nearly 20 years. We have both been prosecutors.”

Harris, who has already earned the support of the majority of delegates after taking President Joe Biden’s place just four days ago, could officially become the Democratic nominee as soon as next week via a virtual vote. Harris is under pressure to quickly introduce a vice president to America before the Democratic National Convention, which is less than a month away. That tight time frame has prompted scrambling among Democratic lawmakers, interest groups, donors and advocates to make their case known — and throw knives in public and private at rivals competing for the job.

The cast of candidates discussed to be under consideration by the Harris campaign include Kelly, Shapiro, Cooper, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Their allies have been directly contacting the Harris campaign in their quest to rise, some from relative obscurity, to run with her.

This shortened timeline may play to Democrats' benefit because it comes in the days following the Republican National Convention, allowing the Democratic Party to dominate the airwaves as prospective vice presidents audition to be Harris’ sidekick, said Democratic strategist Tory Gavito.

It’s “fantastic” seeing “all of the bench out there stating a case for how Democrats are fighting for our freedoms and our future and our families,” Gavito said. “It’s been a great media week for Democrats.”

Many of the lawmakers on Capitol Hill have expressed a home-state bias for the officials on Harris’ shortlist. Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.) praised Cooper as a “very popular governor in a swing state where he’s won it twice at the same time as Trump. Not many can say that.”

Now facing term limits, Cooper has run successful campaigns up and down the ballot in cycles where Republicans also performed well, speaking to his ability to bring in moderates and ticket-splitters. He outperformed Biden by 6 points in 2020.

Cooper dodged questions about his interest in serving as vice president on an MSNBC appearance on Monday, instead expressing his support for Harris’ candidacy and the need to build out a campaign before any conversations about a vice president take place.

“I appreciate people talking about me, but I think the focus needs to be on her this week,” said Cooper, a Biden ally whom the president appeared with the day after his disastrous debate performance.

Some Pennsylvanians, on the other hand, are advocating for Shapiro, whom Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) praised for the benefits he could bring to the ticket by winning purple states. Shapiro, who was elected governor in 2022 by nearly a 15-point margin, worked to appeal to rural voters.

“I think we've got to win Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin as well. And you could do a lot worse than Governor Shapiro,” he said.

A potential sleeper candidate: Walz, who has piqued the interest of some progressives and is being pushed by his home-state Minnesota delegation. Walz has steered a progressive agenda through the state Legislature that Democrats took total control of in 2022, enacting paid family leave, abortion rights and universal free school meals. Walz is a veteran and former public high school teacher.

“He would be just a great, great addition to a ticket. You know, he can supervise a lunch room. He was a master sergeant. He was well respected and beloved here in the House. And he's been a fabulous governor,” said Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), who said she’d advocated directly to Harris’ campaign.

Walz used an MSNBC appearance on Tuesday to attack GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance, saying that the Ohio senator, who has emphasized his Appalachian roots, “know[s] nothing about small-town America … He gets it all wrong.”

“Their policies have divided small-town America, they’re in our exam rooms, they’re telling us what books to read,” he said.

And some members of the Illinois delegation would prefer their own governor.

“We have a deep bench. He would be a great choice,” said Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) of Pritzker, whose family founded the Hyatt hotel chain and who could self-fund a campaign.

Meanwhile, some of Kelly’s colleagues had favorable things to say about him even as they cautioned about the implications of taking a Democratic senator out of the narrowly divided chamber. Arizona law would allow Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs to appoint his temporary replacement, but the election to permanently fill his seat is guaranteed to be a close race.

“I find him to be smart, thoughtful. He and I are both retired Navy captains, and he is an astronaut,” said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.). “Having said that, the state that he represents is a tough state for Democrats to hold. … We have to be very careful, mindful of that.”

The jockeying extends far beyond home-state interests. Environmental groups are not yet actively lobbying on a vice presidential pick. But they do have thoughts about the environmental records of the most commonly talked-about candidates.

Cooper’s success ordering the cleanup of coal ash waste in the state could play well with the environmental base. Cooper also signed executive orders aiming to cut the state's greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030 and to more directly consult residents on environmental projects.

Cooper “would be a solid pick,” said Collin Rees, political director at Oil Change U.S., although the green activist group hasn’t yet settled on a preferred vice presidential candidate.

Kelly had not co-sponsored the PRO Act, a sweeping set of reforms that would make labor law dramatically more favorable to organized labor and hammer employers who union bust, resurfaced past tensions with some labor groups.

Kelly clarified his stance amid the flurry of vice presidential speculation. On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the senator said he would support the legislation if it came to the floor again

Yet just days into the vice presidential search, fault lines among the candidates are beginning to emerge, previewing potential schisms within the Democratic party and lines of attack for the GOP.

Shapiro in particular has been under attack online from some fellow Democrats, including Pennsylvania treasurer candidate Erin McClelland and Michigan state Sen. Dayna Polehanki .

Shapiro previously backed a controversial private school voucher program that rankled teachers unions in his state, and his criticism of pro-Palestinian demonstrators could put him at odds with several unions that have urged the Biden administration to go further in pressing Israel to curtail its war in Gaza. Still Shapiro has a strong overall record for unions during his tenure.

Shapiro could face an uphill battle winning support from far-left groups critical of both the Biden administration’s climate record and its actions in Gaza because of Shapiro’s staunch support of Israel, according to Rees and other progressives.

On the environmental front, Shapiro is seen as the best of a bunch of bad vice presidential options by fossil fuel industry sources.

Shapiro aggressively litigated against natural gas companies during his time as Pennsylvania’s attorney general. But he has taken more moderate positions as governor of the second biggest energy-producing state in the union and is at least better versed in the intricacies of fossil fuel policy than some of the other people being floated, industry officials said.

“He understands the energy industry,” Frank Maisano, senior principal at the government relations firm Bracewell, said of Shapiro. “As governor he’s been way more available and worked closely with the energy industry.”

Nick Niedzwiadek contributed to this report.