Who will Harris pick as her vice presidential candidate?

Current North Carolina governor Roy Cooper.

Michelle Obama possibly. Although she has said she has NO desire to be President, she NEVER mentioned the VP spot.

(As a lifelong Massachusetts resident, I find it hilarious that Warren is considered an “extremist”.)

I think it would have to be a male to balance out the “women can’t be president” mongers.

I’ve heard Andy Beshear of Kentucky floated as well as many others. I do think a male (white probably) from a swing state would be best.

I had an interesting thought earlier today which was what about Adam Kinzinger – a Republican with a backbone.

I’ve heard Senator Mark Kelly’s name floating around. I think he’s a good choice. A former astronaut and Navy captain. He’s about the same age as Kamala.

@Tropical_Willie I did some reading on Cooper after you posted that. He seems very acceptable as a middle of the road Democrat. And being from the South is a strong positive.

@elbanditoroso that is the total reason he is a great choice.

Is Harris 100% for sure at this point?

I hate to say, they probably shouldn’t pick someone Jewish or with a Jewish spouse. This might affect Mark Kelly as a possibility, even though I like him. Delivering AZ would be a good thing. Josh Shapiro is another possibility, he could bring PA. My friends in MI told me young people in Michigan are saying they will likely vote for Kennedy, and that’s mostly because of the war in Gaza. Maybe by November they will have forgotten about Gaza since it isn’t being covered much. Young people often don’t vote, so maybe it doesn’t matter what they say.

I always say a Southern Democrat for President is a great idea. They speak the language of the right. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, they could connect with the bible belt independents. I haven’t read up on Cooper, but I will. I know we are asking VP for the Q. It’s the same.

I think doing this so late in the game sucks. Biden should never have run and we should have been voting in primaries for a presidential candidate. Imagine if all of the Democratic nominees had been under 60 years old. The Republicans might have thought twice about Trump.

I like Whitmer a lot. Not sure they would even contemplate running two women on the ticket.

An. establishment-friendly corrupt neoliberal chosen for their proximity to a swing state. My guess is Buttigieg.

It would take someone with integrity like Jamal Bowman for me to vote blue this time around though. Not perfect but you know he’s actually going to try to accomplish what he campaigned for.

I don’t think Michelle Obama would be a good pick, even if she wanted the job. I don’t think that gtwo black women would beat Trump. In fact, I’m doubtful anybody could beat Trump at this point. I’m not saying I like him, but he’s a force to be reckoned with.

I would love Buttigieg, but that would hit the “hate trifecta”- female, black, gay.

One of the guests on a political talk show, maybe CNN, pointed out that it’s not up to Biden who is going to be the Dem candidate, it’s up to the delegates.

^It’s not up to Biden but everyone is endorsing Kamala because it’s the smart thing to do.

As an establishment friendly corrupt neoliberal myself who lives in proximity to a swing state I agree with @gorillapaws. Buttigeg is the obvious choice.

I think that it would be a mistake for Harris to be the Democrat nominee.

According to CBS news Senator Joe Manchin of W. Virginia is considering a Presidential bid. I think he’d be a very tough candidate for Trump to beat. Manchin could pick Harris to be his Vice President in order to keep people happy.

I am a Manchin fan.

I heard Manchin is going to change back to Democrat.

Just saw Manchin on Face The Nation. He was calling for Biden to step down and putting forward Shapiro and Beshear as his top recommendations. When asked about Harris and the Black vote he practically said he doesn’t want to hear about the Black vote, the Independent vote is much bigger. I’m paraphrasing big time, but that was the gist.

Maybe that will work against Manchin being selected for VP if it is Kamala for president. He also emphasized wanting a younger person for the presidential candidate, which should mean a young VP too, but he didn’t directly speak to that. He said the extreme left was a problem and let’s get away from that and get the Democratic party back.

Man, Democrats sure are self-hating. Y’all are praising a DINO like Manchin (not even a DINO anymore lol). Republicans treat RINOs like they’re the scum of the earth. There’s something to be said for that. Yeah, the solution to the Republicans moving further to the right is for the Democrats to also move to the right, sure.

I think Kamala will pick some mediocre governor. I don’t think it’s going to be someone like Manchin or Buttigieg. But we shall see.

Newsom

@Demosthenes “Man, Democrats sure are self-hating. ”

Look how the question itself is framed: People who are in the center are labeled “extremists.” Elizabeth Warren was a former Republican and helped steal the primary from Bernie for Biden in 2020. I would agree that such an act is extreme (and may have doomed our planet) but certainly not in the way it was intended.

@Caravanfan “As an establishment friendly corrupt neoliberal myself…”

You would only be corrupt if you were taking money and then betraying your patients trust and engaging in medical practices that contradicted your patients’ best interests. Of course nobody would say it’s a “purity test” to expect physicians not to do that. Or accuse people who don’t want such people treating them as looking for the “perfect” doctor. (not that you personally would make such claims).

Kamala is not black. We don’t want to pick a senator or a governor because that would potentially lose a seat for us. Remember that governors certify State votes. Two women on the ballot isn’t going to cut it and I say Pete. And yes, let the haters hate, but they weren’t going to vote Democrat anyway.

Buttigeg would get the young vote. Whitmer would be a strong contender and may also get the young vote and the older crowd as well, because the ticket would be all female against the established old white-man club who wants to make women second-rate citizens. But I think she said before she wouldn’t run for VP. Not sure now that its Harris though. I can see both of these two debate Vance and come out strong.

@LifeQuestioner What are you talking about? Kamala absolutely is Black to people who don’t want a Black president.

She is Black to all of these Black people on TV who keep saying if Kamala is passed over the Black community might not show up to vote. Black people are saying that.

I’m pretty sure Kamala self identifies as Black.

Do you mean her dad is Jamaican and not 5th generation Black-American?

What would be really funny: If she picked Biden.

Manchin is an obstructionist who derailed the Democratic agenda at every turn. He supported continuing coal mining because that’s what made his fortune. He would be a terrible candidate.

^Exactly this. And I know because he’s from my state.
Plus he’s 77 years old. Isn’t everyone tired of the older guys yet?

Another vote for Buttigeg here.
This is sad.

@Dutchess_III I think it’s exciting. I was depressed before; now we have a chance.

Harris’s slogan is easy. “Vote for the younger candidate”

Newsom can’t, @mazingerz88 – can’t have both candidates from the same state.

@Pandora “Buttigeg would get the young vote.”

Why? Because he’s young? The logic here is crazy.

Young voters want integrity. They want anti-establishment (because the establishment has been screwing their generation over). Young voters loved Bernie (who is old) and Obama. Young voters look at who the candidates are getting funded by.

Likewise, I don’t think the black community really embraces Kamala. She comes across as insincere and elitist. When she tries to talk about being “in these streets” it’s seen as cringe. Her husband is white (and of course there’s nothing wrong with that) but some in the black community (especially black men) might see it as a betrayal (even though it’s not).

Conversely, if they ran a bona fide progressive as the VP, I think a lot of the independents on the left would be willing to hold their noses and turn out for the ticket in November, and may even be able to salvage some of the Muslim vote if they campaign on the right policies in Israel.

Beating Trump should be EASY. He’s a contemptible candidate with low favorability. But Trump has anti-establishment rhetoric, which resonates with a disaffected middle class that has seen their American dreams get sold to China (at least that’s the framing).

Personally, I don’t think Harris is a “young candidate” to young people. She’s younger than Trump sure, but she doesn’t read to me like a John Kennedy.

Certainly, Manchin isn’t “young” he says it himself.

@gorillapaws You’re right. I don’t do so well at the corrupt thing. But I can keep hoping for the check! (just kidding)

And on Manchin? Ick.

Seriously, believe it or not, I’m with @gorillapaws on this one. Although the easy money is on Buttigeg, I wish he would pick someone who is progressive left. I’m obviously not of that persuasion but I think it’s what the country needs right now.

@Caravanfan Who is he? He would pick someone who is progressive left.

Typo. I meant “she”. I was typing fast and I was thinking about “Buttigeg” when I typed that.

@JLeslie my bad. She is on one side. But there’s a whole lot of black people on Twitter saying that she’s not so I thought it was just that she was of Indian descent.

@gorillapaws I guess you weren’t paying attention to what happened last night.

Something mainstream media won’t report:

There was a Zoom tonight for Black women organizing for Kamala Harris.

The call had a max of 1000 people. They hit it immediately, and got a hold of the Zoom CEO to help.

40,000 people joined. For over 4 hours.

@LifeQuestioner It’s possible for 40,000 black women to join a zoom call and also for a significant percent of the black community to not like Kamala. There’s no contradiction there. There are nearly 50 million black people in the US and 40k people is 0.08% of the total black population in the US. Definitely significant, but she didn’t get much love in the 2020 primary despite corporate media trying to ram her through the primaries, if my memory serves it was the middle aged rich white women demo that really loved her the most.

Just wondering if Ellen Degeneres, or Al Gore would be suitable vp candidates? I believe that they both have some free time.

@LifeQuestioner Just heard about that too.

@LifeQuestioner Remember Biden promised to choose a Black VP.

Ellen is funny, but she is no politician. We have had actors and entertainers in the white house, and they didn’t work out well.

Gore – another 76 year old. And he has been out of politics for 20 years. He brings absolutely nothing to the ticket. He’s more of a businessman than an environmentalist (although, to be fair, he invests in environmental projects).

He won’t help the ticket.

Nyc news asked Governor Phil Murphy (NJ) if he would be willing to be VP. He said we’ll keep private conversations private.

Phil Murphy is from a blu-ish state. He wouldn’t bring enough to the table.

I’m changing my vote and I think she’ll go for Kentucky governor Andy Beshear. He’s a pretty mainstream Democrat in a deeply red state. However, I don’t think he will be able to deliver Kentucky to Harris so it will be a wasted pick and he’s not known outside the state. I still think she should go for someone far to her left. She needs an electrifying jolt and Andy won’t do it.

@Caravanfan I’d pull the lever for her with a bona fide progressive VP pick. I think your predictions are probably accurate though, sadly.

@gorillapaws The irony, of course, is that a guy like Beshear is more aligned with my personal views. But I would go with Harris if she picked anybody as Trump is such a threat.

Personally, i think a Black woman running for President is the electrifying jolt and she needs a straight white man from a swing state to balance the ticket. That is for electability – not my preference. But like @Caravanfan, I will vote for Harris happily since the threat of the other is cataclysmic. And I suspect that there are smarter people than us in the room where it happens weighing all the options.

@janbb “And I suspect that there are smarter people than us in the room where it happens weighing all the options.”

You’re assuming those people’s highest priority is beating Trump, and they’ve clearly demonstrated that their highest priority is maintaining control of the party and keeping their donors happy. Preventing a Bernie-like candidate is a higher priority for those people than beating Trump.

Black woman is a jolt. @janbb wrote that above, but my answer is to all.

The more I think about it the whole thing is crap. It’s not exciting to me, I feel completely cut out of the process and that it was manipulated by the people obsessed with a minority being president. Right now I think the obsession is more about her being a woman than Black or Asian. I love the idea of having women in politics and especially as president. I’ve said before I think if the countries had female leaders the world we be a different and better place, but not like this. She is basically being appointed and funded by millionaires right now. I realize she has a lot of small donors too, but the bulk is big donors from what I understand.

If you are excited about how this is going regarding process, what if it was happening on the Republican side? Trump drops out and JD Vance becomes the nominee. Would that feel democratic to you?

Would she have won the nomination in a primary vote? She didn’t do well last time. Maybe she would have this time. They keep saying we voted for her. Not really, we voted for Biden and anyone he picked.

@JLeslie if you voted for Biden you were also voting for Harris. She is the VP. If something happened to Biden today where he couldn’t finish his term, she would be our president now. Are you saying you feel she isn’t capable of handling the office? I do not think the excitement is because she’s a woman. From what I’ve seen the excitement is about a qualified candidate and a former prosecutor who will be running against a felon. Harris had Brett Kavanaugh in tears. She is the strongest person imo to go up against these men.

Excellent post, @jonsblond. People tend to forget that she has already been voted for, and won, a number of elections. She has had a career of public service. Being a prosecutor does not earn the same kind of money as private practice. Her career has been about public service, which too many tend to forget is what politics actually is.
Any comparison to Vance in this context is one dimensional.

@jonsblond I think saying voting for Biden was voting for her is a Democratic spin I keep hearing over and over again.

I was voting for Biden no matter who he picked for VP, and Harris was not anywhere on my list of who I would vote for in the 2020 primaries, so to be told I voted for her, or lets say for MSNBC to be trying to tell the country that the Democrats did vote for her to succeed Biden, is just not really true in my opinion, we basically have no choice. A VP would have to be really atrocious for the voters to abandon their presidential pick. I’m a Democrat, so the VP isn’t usually going to sway me.

I think she’s qualified, I will be voting for her if she is the candidate chosen by the DNC.

If you voted for Biden, you also voted for his dogs to prance around on the white house lawn.
Does not mean that either of his dogs has the qualifications to win the presidency.

@jonsblond Is this the Kavanaugh exchange? Harris is totally obnoxious and annoying to me in this clip. https://youtu.be/Tsm1GPnlqmU?si=4A2uh10EXEtTfSOV

I didn’t feel like Kavanaugh was avoiding answering as she accuses him of doing. To me he was trying to answer the question. If she had named a particular person I think he would have answered honestly. She seemed to be full of crap and doing that police thing where they lie and hope you’ll spill. I’m no fan of Kavanaugh, but that’s what I saw.

@ragingloli Why are you comparing the vice president to a dog?

Because it is an irrelevancy.

@JLeslie Since you seem to intensely dislike Harris, you can always vote for Kennedy.

MSNBC has an article this afternoon (7/23) that Trump and others are regretting choosing JD Vance because he is a Trump clone, and not what is needed when running against Harris.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-jd-vance-catastrophic-kamala-harris-rcna163199

Yes, @JLeslie, people who voted for Biden, voted for Harris to succeed him, your opinion notwithstanding. When Nixon resigned, a large number of conservatives I knew were furious that they had had no say in the succession. It does, indeed, matter.

@chyna Don’t try to put words in my mouth. I said I don’t like that we didn’t get to vote.

I said I was going to vote for Harris in the end. I didn’t say I hate her.

I feel like you suggesting Kennedy is insulting, and not taking what I am saying seriously.

@canidmajor Yes, we know that’s how it works, but it’s not necessarily a vote for the VP, it’s accepting that’s how it works to keep stability in the country.

This is not a situation where some catastrophe happened while a president was serving, this is an election for the coming term.

I’m also not comparing Vance to Harris in terms of experience, integrity, qualifications, or political views. I am only talking about a last minute change a few months before an election with no real primary was allowed.

Democrats are freaked out about Republicans trying to destroy the Democratic process, you don’t think Democrats would be saying the RNC effectively excluded the voice of the people if they suddenly chose another candidate instead of Trump? At minimum for ratings and to sell newspapers? But, also I think plenty of jellies would be saying it too if the timing was the same.

Even if in history we used to pick candidates that way.

@elbanditoroso Do you think Trump should have picked a woman? Or, do you mean any minority?

Vance’s wife is Indian, which I think gives Trump the minority piece for anyone who wants to feel he is ok with minorities.

@JLeslie Vance and Trump appeal to the same demographic – hard right anti-abortion conservatives, largely christian.

Trump should have picked someone who had a little difference from him. Right now he is a younger and nastier version of Trump. That has no appeal to anyone but hard right people.

Abortion (anti-abortion specifically) is going to lose the election for Trump and Vance.

Note that the republicans had their convention and selected Trump.

The dems haven’t had their convention yet. Big difference (if Trump wanted to step down).

@elbanditoroso To the voter is it a big difference if the convention happened already or not? Imagine if the RNC had not selected Trump after the people voted for him, or if there had not been a primary and the RNC selected whoever they wanted. I wonder what the voters or the RNC would have done if they knew Kamala was going to be the candidate. Would they have stuck with Trump? I think probably.

What state do you think would be moved depending on who Trump picks as VP?

Trump gets most of his money from the hard right anti-abortion people and probably the billionaires who support that stuff too. I’m sure part of his thinking is a bird in the hand. Take the money while he can get it.

The mistake that people seem to be making is that the process of picking a presidential candidate is up to the population. It is not. It is up to the political party delegates, and the delegates can pick who they choose. When you vote for a candidate in the primary, you are voting for your preferred delegate slate, not the candidate. And there are several states that do not have primaries anyway and are chosen by the few people who show up to caucus.

What is happening now is perfectly legal and up until recently was standard practice in party conventions.

@Caravanfan I understand it’s legal and how it works, and I think it was in the 1970’s (correct me if I’m wrong) primary voting became more of the custom to help determine the candidate.

That doesn’t change that in my opinion if the Republicans did this the Democrats on TV and social media would be checking it off as another thing that appeared undemocratic.

Plus, it just feels to me like Democrats really didn’t have a voice, the choice is being made by the delegates. It doesn’t help that most of the country doesn’t understand or know who the delegates are.

ABC News is reporting that Harris is now 2 points ahead in the polls. But it’s early. This will change back and forth until November.

“Democrats really didn’t have a voice”.
Yes they do. They’ll have a voice at the convention. They vote then.

@ragingloli Don’t be silly. The dogs aren’t next in line if something happens to the president.

@Caravanfan The representatives have the voice. It is a done deal anyway.

I don’t direct this next statement at you, because I don’t know where you stand on the issue of the electoral process, but most Democrats I know have been saying for years they want a direct vote to elect the president and not the electoral college. Now, many of them are perfectly fine with delegates deciding a presidential candidate, seemingly not only for this election, but for the future too. It seems incongruent to me.

@JLeslie my issue with direct vote for president (not electoral college) and direct votes for candidates is that it boils down to mob rule.

And mobs are generally not very intelligent and usually prone to manipulation by populists. Basically, in a mob, the extremists are the loudest and often carry the day. (See MAGA and that crowd for examples.)

At least with a second level, cooler heads have a chance to prevail.

@elbanditoroso I understand that POV. That’s why I have a problem with caucusing. Citizens in a room with their family and neighbors to see how they vote.

Plus, not very many people show up to vote in primaries.

At the same time, I still don’t see how it’s very different between the two. Democracy is messy and risky.

@JLeslie It’ll never happen.

@Caravanfan Direct vote for president?

@JLeslie Correct. It will take a Constitutional amendment and the process for doing that is arduous and will be impossible in today’s political climate. Republicans have won two elections in recent memory where they lost the popular vote. There is absolutely no way they will give that up.

@Caravanfan You are talking from a very literate, knows the constitution, reads the New York Times, POV. I’m talking about the masses on social media and cable television talking heads wanting ratings.

Rumor has it it may be Josh Shapiro, Govenor or Pennsylvania, or Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona. But I think that is the media speculating or just hearing rumbles.

I also heard the governor of NC, but can’t remember his name.

@chyna

I think the NC gov is Roy Cooper.

Oh, I like the Mark Kelly idea. I really like him.

I like Kelly, too, and he brings the bonus of Gifford’s perspective and good work.

I like Kelly, but strategically, a southerner will be of more help.

And losing Kelly as a senator would be bad, while losing Cooper or Shapiro as governors wouldn’t be as bad a blow.

@elbanditoroso That’s the traditional strategy, pick a Southerner. I disagree, though. The Southern vote is lost. They’ll vote for Trump regardless and progressives like @gorillapaws will be disinclined to vote. Now is the time to double down and pick someone from the left. (And I say this as a conservative Democrat)

@Caravanfan North Carolina is not a rubber stamp for Trump, ii is a “swing state” with large metropolitan areas with high percentage of Democrat registered voters.

Mandy Cohen director of CDC (ex State of North Caroliina Director of DHHS) was picked by Cooper.

North Carolina has 16 electoral College votes.

@Tropical_Willie And do you think those North Carolina voters would be more apt to vote for Harris if there is a Southern VP? What about Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada or Minnesota?

I think Kelly plays well for many states, but maybe not a help in Michigan, but I don’t think he hurts there either.

Jamal Bowman would clinch it for the Dems. It would never happen though.

Can they not find some pious former christian pastor or something? Then they could run with the narrative that the choice is between a devout christian, and the orange embodiment of the seven deadly sins.

@gorillapaws He is hated by many in NYC. Would not clinch it at all. And NY will go for theDems any way.

@janbb It would win Michigan, likely the rest of the rust belt with his pro-union record, and are you seriously arguing that NY would vote red?

@gorillapaws What did you take from what I said about that? “And NY will go for the Dems any way..”

Is Bloomberg a Democrat?

@Caravanfan Cooper was elected in a state where the state congress is hard RED.

Yes I think they would vote for someone they know as a political executive.

I’ll repeat North Carolina has 16 electoral College votes.

My brother lives in NC and says feelings for Cooper are favorable in his state.

@janbb You’re right. I misread your statement. I apologize and appreciate the correction.

@janbb

Why is Bowman ”...hated by many in NYC”?

@RedDeerGuy1 Bloomberg is older than Biden and his political affiliation is Bloomberg.

I’m going to call it now. Josh Shapiro is looking strong. I didn’t know who he was a week ago but he’s on my radar now. We need Kelly to stay in the senate.

@jonsblond I’m good with Shapiro. He’d be the first Jewish person in that office.

Beshear fer sher!

@chyna, NC can’t afford to let go of Cooper. He has helped NC unemployment a lot and it needs a lot of help. I do believe he has removed himself from the VP list.

@Pandora

I agree.

Here’s what I read regarding Cooper’s decision:

“Under the state constitution, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is the GOP’s nominee to replace the term-limited Cooper, becomes acting governor and can assume the Democrat’s powers when he travels out of state.

Cooper, according to one of the people, has expressed concern about what Robinson might do if he were to leave the state extensively for campaign travel.

Robinson is an ardent social conservative, who once called abortion ‘child sacrifice.’ In various church pulpits, Robinson has asserted men as the rightful leaders in church and society. He once mused that leaders of the original birth control movement in the U.S. were ‘witches, all of ‘em.’ He has discussed LGBTQ people with words like ‘filth’ and ‘maggots’.”

“While the cat is away the mice will play.”

The state congress in NC is controlled by the GOP, ultra conservatives. They could outlaw abortions, stop absentee ballots and send more tax money to parents for private schooling.

@Caravanfan I just heard this on CNN: Vice President Kamala Harris will make her first visit to Pennsylvania as the Democratic Party’s likely presidential nominee next Tuesday, and will be joined by her yet-unnamed running mate, the Harris campaign confirmed.

Hmm, Pennsylvania as the first stop after her announcement.

Well, if it’s in Pennsylvania it’s pretty much a no-brainer. Harris/Shapiro 2024!