- Harris’ team met with two candidates from her short list of vice presidential candidates
- Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro canceled weekend fundraising events
Vice President Kamala Harris’ search for a running mate is well underway, as her team has met with two key candidates on her shortlist and will announce them in a few days.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly have both spoken with members of Harris’ search team, it was reported Thursday, after both men had been on Harris’ shortlist for days.
Both offer potential advantages for the candidate, who has resisted Republican Party attacks on left-wing positions dating back to her time as California’s attorney general and her failed 2020 presidential campaign.
Harris’ campaign has announced a week of campaign appearances beginning Tuesday in Philadelphia, putting her on Shapiro’s home turf in a state crucial to the Democratic “blue wall.”
Notably, Shapiro has shown he can win statewide and outpace Joe Biden in western Pennsylvania. He won big margins in suburban and exurban areas around Philadelphia in his 2022 victory, beating Republican Doug Mastriano by 15 points statewide.
There was another possible clue when Shapiro suddenly canceled a planned trip Thursday to spend the weekend campaigning in the Hamptons.
His team gave no indication that the cancellation had anything to do with the vice presidential selection process.
“The governor’s trip was planned several weeks ago and included several fundraisers for his own campaign committee,” spokesman Manuel Bonder said. told DailyMail.com.
“His schedule has changed and he will no longer be traveling to the Hamptons this weekend,” Bonder added.
Politics reported that the two meetings do not necessarily mean that the two candidates have moved up above others on Harris’ shortlist. (Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is another example.)
Bloomberg reported that Harris herself did not attend the meetings. She has spent time with each potential running mate during her travels around the country, including multiple visits to Pennsylvania.
Open weekend: Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro met with Kamala Harris’ team and made good on earlier pledges to raise campaign funds in the Hamptons
Sky high: Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly has been to space four times and could give Harris a lift in the Sun Belt
Kelly, meanwhile, brings his own brand of personal politics: He’s hailed as a national hero for his military service and time as an astronaut, and he has borderline credentials that help him address one of Harris’ biggest vulnerabilities.
They could both help Harris in a key state that was part of Biden’s winning coalition.
Of the two, Pennsylvania is the more important, with 19 electoral votes.
Arizona has 11 electoral votes. The state is also more Republican-leaning. Only two Democrats have won it since 1952: Bill Clinton and Biden. Donald Trump’s lead there has averaged about 4 points after Harris took the lead in a Bloomber/Morning Consult poll.
(Trump holds a 3-point lead in Pennsylvania, according to the RealClearPolitics average.)