Gabrielle Giffords stumps for Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania as campaign for running mate takes shape
PHILADELPHIA — PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Gabrielle GiffordsThe former Democratic congresswoman who was seriously injured in a shooting in her Arizona district in 2011 went on the campaign trail for Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday, as Harris’ fledgling presidential campaign gets off the ground and a parallel campaign to become Harris’ running mate takes shape.
Giffords, speaking at the Salt & A church in the swing state of Pennsylvania met with community activists in a predominantly black Philadelphia neighborhood recently hit by gun violence, including one over the weekend in which three people were killed and at least six others injured.
According to Giffords’ associates, the event had been planned long before Giffords’ husband, the U.S. senator, organized it. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania started the conversation to become Harris’ running mate now that President Joe Biden has ended his re-election campaign and is endorsing Harris.
Giffords spoke briefly about her long recovery from the 2011 shooting that killed six people at a Tucson grocery store rally with voters. Harris’ other surrogates, including Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton, cast the November presidential election as a choice between Harris signing an assault weapons ban and increased gun violence under Republican Donald Trump, who has the support of gun rights groups.
“We’re being inundated with violence all across America, from rural Pennsylvania to inner-city neighborhoods like where we are now,” McClinton said. “We as voters can decide whether we want a more violent United States or safer communities in every part of America.”
McClinton, a Shapiro ally in the Pennsylvania legislature who has lobbied on social media to endorse Harris’ candidacy, and Giffords denied questions about the possibility that Kelly or Shapiro could be Harris’ nominee.
When asked if she was thinking about becoming the second lady, Giffords said, “later, later.” McClinton, for her part, said, “I don’t make those decisions,” but then went on to promote Shapiro as a “people’s champion when it comes to public safety issues” while calling Kelly someone “we all hold in high regard.”
Harris is beginning to screen about a dozen people for the vice presidential nomination, two people familiar with the matter said. told The Associated PressThey spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential process.
Giffords’ event in Philadelphia on Thursday — just a few miles from Shapiro’s home in neighboring Montgomery County — had been long planned, Giffords’ associates said.
Still, it won’t be the last campaign event for Harris where her vice presidential pick is a hot topic, or where potential vice presidential candidates campaign for Harris in a state that both parties have said they must win in November.
On Monday, Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were scheduled to headline a campaign rally for Harris in the Philadelphia suburbs, while North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Thursday spoke of Harris’s many visits as vice president to the swing state Trump won in 2016 and 2020.
Cooper and Whitmer are also being considered to join the ticket.
Cooper, speaking in downtown Raleigh, said “there are a lot of good people” Harris could choose as her running mate, but he would not comment directly on his prospects for joining her.
“There are a lot of people she can choose from. She’s going to make the right choice,” Cooper said after listing why he was supporting Harris for president. “I just want her to choose the person that gives her the best chance to win. And there’s going to be a lot of factors that go into that,” Cooper added.
Cooper slammed Trump’s choice for vice president in Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, saying, “It’s pretty clear that Donald Trump has chosen someone in his own image — sort of a Mini Me” — a reference to a smaller clone of “Dr. Evil” in the “Austin Powers” film franchise.
Another leading candidate, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, dodged questions during his regular news conference at the state Capitol on Thursday about how Harris chose a running mate, but Beshear spoke more freely about the upcoming presidential campaign than he normally does. He began with a statement saying he was honored to be considered for the ticket, but when asked later if he thought Trump was a threat to democracy, he said, “Yes, I think so.”
Beshear said he would do everything he could to get Harris elected, regardless of whether he is her running mate.
“I think we need a ticket now that can not only win, but can govern and govern in a way that is for everyone,” he said. “We can’t continue to make everything red or blue or Democrat or Republican. Everything from the car you buy to the beer you drink is trying to make someone partisan and say you have to pick a team.”
___
Associated Press reporters Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Bruce Schreiner in Frankfort, Kentucky, contributed to this report.