At least three Democrats have been mentioned as potential running mates for Kamala Harris if President Joe Biden withdraws from the 2024 presidential election.
The 81-year-old commander in chief has insisted he will remain in the race against Republican Donald Trump, while also hitting back at critics from within his own party who say he is not mentally equipped to handle a second term in office.
Vice President Harris, 59, has also said she supports Biden as she travels the country to reassure donors and voters about the viability of his campaign.
But that hasn’t stopped a growing number of Democrats from eyeing her for the most powerful position in the United States, with several Democrats now working behind the scenes to plan a potential Harris campaign. according to the New York Times.
They say that to beat Trump in the general election, Harris needs a moderate, white man as her running mate.
A growing number of Democrats believe Vice President Kamala Harris should be the party’s presidential nominee
The advisers have explained that Harris would be the first Black and Asian American female presidential nominee from a major party if Biden were to withdraw. She would need a running mate who resembles almost all of the previous presidents, to soften the identity politics shocks.
Among the names mentioned are Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, two people close to the Biden-Harris campaign told the Times.
They suggested that Cooper, 67, is currently the favorite for the role.
He is a moderate candidate from the South who has been working with a Republican-led legislature since taking office in 2016 after a tough confrontation.
Democrats now believe that North Carolina can be flipped and that having Cooper on the ballot can deliver a victory for the party.
Beshear, 46, doesn’t offer the same opportunity. But he has captured the party’s attention after winning a second term in the deep-red state.
Both Cooper and Beshear have also served as attorneys general of their states, giving them a connection to Harris, who was attorney general of California before becoming a senator.
A favorite to be Harris’ running mate is North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, 67
A third potential candidate is Shapiro, 51, who has strong poll numbers.
In fact, a January poll showed he had a higher approval rating than any other recent Pennsylvania governor, at 59 percent.
That would be important for the general election, as Pennsylvania is a key swing state with 19 electoral votes.
However, Shapiro has been in office for less than two years, which could be problematic for an inexperienced candidate.
Other names being mentioned as possible vice presidential candidates for Harris include Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, 46, left, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, right.
Despite the speculation, Harris has remained mum about her potential nomination, knowing she can’t be drawn into even private discussions about the matter because it would inevitably leak out and make her appear disloyal to Biden.
Her advisers also claim she is doing nothing to boost her own campaign as she campaigns across the country in support of the aging president.
“We always knew this election was going to be tough, and the last few days have reminded us that running for president of the United States is never easy,” she told a crowd in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
“But the one thing we know about our president, Joe Biden, is that he is a fighter.”
“And he’s the first one to say that when you get knocked down, you get back up. We all know – many of us know what that is. So we’re going to keep fighting and we’re going to keep organizing and in November we’re going to win,” she added.
Harris is expected to deliver similar speeches at a student union meeting in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday and will close the week with a visit to North Carolina.
Harris has so far endorsed President Joe Biden, 81, and has traveled across the country to reassure voters and donors about his ability to win the general election against former President Donald Trump in November.
Yet more and more Democrats have come forward to argue that she should be the presidential nominee instead of Biden, citing his poor performance in debates.
During the CNN debate on June 27, Biden’s answers stalled mid-sentence and he stood open-mouthed as Trump spoke.
As the conversation ended, Biden was also seen at his podium, with First Lady Jill Biden eventually leading him off the stage.
The president later attributed his performance at the debate to “exhaustion” and “being sick,” even claiming he should have taken a COVID test before the debate.
But questions about Biden’s mental acuity only grew after he made feeble attempts at damage control, including an interview with ABC News host George Stephanopoulos that was described as “sad” and seen as a continuation of his poor debate performance.
Another post-debate appearance led to the firing of a Philadelphia radio host after it was revealed that the president’s team had sent her prepared questions that she used during the interview.
Yet Biden missed the mark when he called himself a “black woman” when he wanted to praise Harris’s appointment as his vice president.
During the June 27 CNN debate, Biden paused mid-sentence in his answers and stood there with his mouth open as Trump spoke
Amid uncertainty over Biden’s future, a Democratic pollster said Bendixen and Amandi Inc. found that the VP would beat Trump 42 percent to 41 percent.
A Democratic ticket with Harris as the nominee and Governor Josh Shapiro as her running mate also did well, beating Trump by two percentage points, according to Politico.
Those who support Harris as a candidate say she has a better chance than other Democrats of defeating former President Trump.
She is expected to inherit the Biden-Harris campaign, which has a budget of $91 million. If Biden withdraws, that number will grow to $240 million when funds from affiliated Democratic organizations are included.
And if Biden backs Harris as his rightful successor, it could limit the potential chaos and avoid fights at the Democratic National Convention that could provide fodder for Trump’s campaign.
Still, many voters find Harris clumsy and unlikable.
Recent polls show Harris would beat Trump in the general election
Critics often ridicule her awkward laugh on social media and criticize her for speeches that make no sense.
Polls also show that the southern border and immigration (which Harris took over under Biden) are among the most important issues for Americans heading to the polls in November, beaten only by inflation and the overall state of the economy.
Others have pointed out that she lacks experience and that the White House has done little to promote Harris or prepare her to govern the country.
Some of Harris’s allies even suspect that Biden supporters are trying to save his campaign by telling wavering Democrats that they cannot abandon him or they will be stuck with a vice president who cannot win in November.
Dmitri Mehlhorn, who leads wealthy Biden supporters like LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman, has even argued that a “dead” or “coma” Biden would be better than replacing him with Kamala Harris.
He said in an interview Monday that Biden is still determined to run and win in 2024, that polls predicting the president is losing are wrong and that this motivates him to stay in the race.
Biden believes his biggest mistake, according to Mehlhorn, was being convinced not to run for president in 2016 so that Hillary Clinton could become the Democratic Party nominee. Many reports suggest that Barack Obama was one of them.
“And he’s right. We were all wrong,” Mehlhorn said.
“If he had run in 2016, we wouldn’t be here. A lot of people – not so many this time – but a lot of people put the same arguments to him in 2020 and he stubbornly, stubbornly resisted them all. And he saved us.”