US Vice President Kamala Harris is interviewing a half-dozen potential running mates this weekend ahead of a formal announcement and a battleground tour with her new No. 2 next week.
Her interview list includes US governors Andy Beshear, J.B. Pritzker, Josh Shapiro and Tim Walz, as well as US Senator Mark Kelly and US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, two people with knowledge of Harris’ selection process said.
The two were granted anonymity as they were discussing private campaign deliberations.
Photo: AP
Shapiro and Kelly had been viewed as among the front-runners during Harris’ truncated selection process, which began with the vetting of about a dozen names. Some have publicly withdrawn from consideration, such as US Governor Roy Cooper, who is close with Harris from their shared time as state attorneys general, but expressed concern about regularly traveling out of the state if he were to be on the national Democratic ticket.
Harris’ deadline for picking a running mate is effectively Tuesday, when she is to launch a tour of seven key battleground states, starting in Philadelphia.
President Joe Biden on Friday told reporters that he has spoken to Harris about her search for a vice presidential candidate, but when asked whether he had advice for the qualities she should look for in a running mate, he said: “I’ll let her work that out.”
Harris effectively secured the Democratic party’s presidential nomination on Friday, confirming her remarkable rise to party standard bearer in November’s showdown against former US president Donald Trump.
Harris, 59, was the sole candidate on the ballot for a five-day electronic vote of nearly 4,000 party convention delegates.
The first black and south Asian woman to secure a major party’s nomination, she is to be officially crowned at a Chicago convention later this month.
“I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States,” Harris said on a phone-in to a party celebration after securing enough votes by the second day of the marathon virtual vote.
Meanwhile, Trump has agreed to an offer from Fox News to hold a debate with Harris on Sept. 4, he wrote on Truth Social late on Friday.
“Rules will be similar to the rules of my debate with Sleepy Joe, who has been treated horribly by his party, but with a full arena audience,” Trump said, referring to Biden,.
The post was removed for a few minutes before being reposted, with Trump deleting his proposal for a “major” town hall gathering on the same date if Harris was “unwilling or unable to debate.”
Harris had responded last month that she was “ready” after Fox News proposed a presidential debate between the two candidates on Sept. 17.
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