Who each of them are, and what they would — and wouldn’t — bring to the ticket.
Vice President Harris is on a glide path to the 2024 Democratic nomination just two days after President Biden’s decision to end his campaign. Despite some talk about a contested race, Harris faces no high-profile opponents yet and has already amassed the support of more than two-thirds of delegates — well more than the majority she needs. Her nomination could become official via a virtual vote as early as next week.
Assuming all stays that way, the next big question for Democrats is, of course, who replaces her as the party’s vice-presidential nominee.
We’ve seen conflicting reports about who is being vetted for the job. The likeliest course is to pick someone who politically complements Harris, a former blue-state senator from California who would be the first Black female and Asian American president. And with time running short, there will be a premium on picking a proven commodity who has been scrutinized before. All of that leaves a handful of names that appear to be the most plausible.
Let’s run through the options — both who they are and what they might bring to the ticket — in rough order of who makes the most sense.
Who he is: Shapiro has served in a variety of roles over the last 20 years. He has risen from state House member and Montgomery County commissioner to Pennsylvania attorney general and then, after the 2022 election, governor of Pennsylvania. He would be the first Jewish vice president in American history.
What he brings: Perhaps nobody in the Democratic Party right now is a bigger rising star, and perhaps nobody on this list could do more to help Harris win lots of electoral votes (19) in a key state. Shapiro won his 2022 campaign by nearly 15 points. Some of that was owing to the flawed and extreme Republican opponent he faced. But Shapiro made a concerted point to appeal to rural voters, and a poll earlier this year showed that more than 3 in 10 Pennsylvania Donald Trump supporters also supported Shapiro. Recent polls also showed him leading Trump if he were the Democratic presidential nominee — something no other candidate could say. Shapiro has a reputation as an energetic and gifted messenger who doesn’t come off as performative.
If there’s a drawback, it’s that Shapiro is still somewhat new to the national scene. And a smaller, more practical issue: Pennsylvania Democrats could lose a tiebreaking vote in a divided state Senate if a Harris-Shapiro ticket wins, because of the state’s unusual succession rules.
Who he is: Kelly is a former Navy combat pilot and NASA astronaut who made his political debut in 2020 by running for U.S. Senate. He defeated an appointed senator and then won again in 2022, securing a full term. He is married to former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was severely wounded in a mass shooting in Tucson in 2011.
What he brings: My colleague Karen Tumulty has made the case for Kelly, whose personal biography might be the most compelling on this list. She argues that his tougher-than-most-Democrats stance on border security could help Harris withstand attacks on the administration’s border record.
