IF KAMALA HARRIS secures the Democratic nomination, one of her first acts will need to be to choose a running mate who would serve as vice president if she wins the election in November.
Most president candidates spend years planning and executing their campaigns but Harris has only just over 100 days before the US takes to the polls on 5 November.
As she puts together her campaign, who are some of the potential names in the mix to be her would-be Veep?
Pete Buttigieg, 42, is the Transportation Secretary in Biden’s Cabinet. Before that, he was the mayor of the city of South Bend in Indiana for eight years and was also an intelligence officer in the US Navy Reserve.
He ran in the Democratic primaries for the 2020 presidential election and gained some momentum – he won the caucus in Iowa and placed second in New Hampshire before dropping out in March 2020 and endorsing Biden.
He wrote on social media last night that he will “do all that I can” to help Harris win the election.
I will do all that I can to help elect @KamalaHarris the next President of the United States. pic.twitter.com/bHkiqpa7Lg
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) July 21, 2024
Gretchen Whitmer, 52, has been the Governor of Michigan since 2019, securing re-election in 2022 against the Republican nominee by nearly 11 points.
Whitmer is also a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and was previously elected to the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate.
She hasn’t shared a statement on social media about yesterday’s twist in the race but Politico is reporting that she has privately backed Harris for the nomination.
Josh Shapiro, 51, was the Attorney General of Pennsylvania for five years until last year, when he was elected as the state’s Governor. He was previously a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
“I will do everything I can to help elect Kamala Harris as the 47th President of the United States,” he wrote on social media last night.
The contrast in this race could not be clearer and the road to victory in November runs right through Pennsylvania – where this collective work began.
— Josh Shapiro (@JoshShapiroPA) July 21, 2024
I will do everything I can to help elect @KamalaHarris as the 47th President of the United States. pic.twitter.com/sqCkiAmCV7
Mark Kelly, 60, is currently a Senator for Arizona but has a more unusual career history than other potential running mates on this list; he was a Space Shuttle pilot for Nasa and spent 56 days in space. He served in the US Navy until he retired from it and Nasa in 2011.
Kelly is also known from founding “Americans for Responsible Solutions”, an organisation that supports the US Constitution’s second amendment on the right to own guns but says there should be stricter limitations on who is allowed to own a gun.
I couldn’t be more confident that Vice President @KamalaHarris is the right person to defeat Donald Trump and lead our country into the future. She has my support for the nomination, and Gabby and I will do everything we can to elect her President of the United States. 🇺🇸
— Captain Mark Kelly (@CaptMarkKelly) July 21, 2024
Gavin Newsom, 56, is the Governor of California, a role he’s held since 2019. From 2011 to 2019 he was the state’s Lieutenant Governor and before that he was the Mayor of San Francisco.
He’s one of the Democratic Party’s high-profile members and his name was floated in suggestions of who could potentially replace Biden before the President officially confirmed he was stepping back. There’s a quirk in the election system though that would be a major drawback for Harris of selecting him as her running mate: because she too hails from California, they couldn’t collect California’s important electoral college delegate votes as a pair.
Tough. Fearless. Tenacious.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) July 21, 2024
With our democracy at stake and our future on the line, no one is better to prosecute the case against Donald Trump's dark vision and guide our country in a healthier direction than America’s Vice President, @KamalaHarris.
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