Vice President Harris has formally initiated the vetting process for potential running mates, as the campaign has reportedly sent vetting materials to a number of candidates. One candidate — a governor of a red state who was initially thought to be on the vice president’s list — has notably not received any vetting paperwork.
The Harris campaign has sent vetting materials to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
Notably absent from the list was Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, who recently cruised to re-election in an overwhelmingly pro-Trump state. Beshear is also one of the few candidates who have expressed interest in serving as Harris’ running mate.
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“The only reason I’d ever consider something else is if I felt that I could help my people in Kentucky more in a different role or that there was a chance to move past the partisanship, the constant fighting,” Beshear said when asked about the role by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
Beshear also noted that he had not yet received any vetting materials from the campaign, however, stating that he has “not been personally asked to submit information at this point.”
Other candidates on the list have offered Harris their endorsements, though they have also stopped short of saying they would be willing to accept the role.
“I couldn’t be more confident that Vice President @KamalaHarrisis the right person to defeat Donald Trump and lead our country into the future,” Kelly said in a post on X. “She has my support for the nomination, and Gabby and I will do everything we can to elect her President of the United States.”
“I love being the governor of the state of Illinois, and I’ve been out on the campaign trail fighting hard for Democrats to win,” Pritzker told MSNBC when asked about his interest in the job. Cooper offered a similar answer, telling the outlet that the focus should remain on Harris this week when asked the same question.
“Our conversation was all about how we beat Donald Trump and protect our freedoms here in this commonwealth,” Shapiro told NBC when asked about his conversations with Harris,
Whitmer has provided the most forceful decline to date when asked about serving as Harris’ running mate. “I’m not leaving Michigan,” she wrote in an X post. “I’m proud to be the governor of Michigan. I have been consistent. I know everyone is always suspicious and asking this question over and over again – I know you’re doing your job – I’m not going anywhere.”
Walz, like Beshear, has been one of the few candidates to express interest in the role. “She mentioned she would need my help. And I said she has it in any way that she sees fit,” Walz said in an interview with Minnesota Now. “If that’s the direction she goes, I guess that’s fine.”
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