Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has narrowed her search for a vice presidential running mate to two finalists, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday.
Harris, the U.S. vice president, is expected to announce her selection by Tuesday, ahead of her first scheduled public appearance with her running mate in the evening at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Walz would be good, just please don’t pick Shapiro. Can we avoid shooting ourselves in the foot for once? We’ve got a good thing going with Kamala.
Do you think Shapiro would lock down PA? I like Walz more from what I know, but seems MN is in the bag regardless. Can’t see the strategy side of his pick other than Walz seems to be the progressive favorite, and checks the old white male box.
I don’t think he does lock down PA, his approval is solid but nothing crazy. And on top of that he has so many vulnerabilities. School vouchers and protest response, on top of old quotes being dredged out and the potential cover-up of sexual misconduct of one of his aides.
I would have looked at Kelly for his cheap points to score with low information voters (combat decorated Navy captain, astronaut), but Walz is also incredibly popular and has a good track record.
She going choose Shapiro because DNC tells her too and fucking hurt her campaign. Goddammit for once do the right thing here Shaprio is a horrible choice that fucking none of us want. Hence why they pick him. Dumb fucking Democrats hate them.
There are some impressively out of touch people making the calls in the democratic party.
I like Shapiro. I was pulling for Kelly because I don’t want to give up Shapiro as my governor. Don’t let one issue define a person, you’re never going to get everything you want.
Dude is got baggage that will hurt her. He can fuck off.
What baggage? Also what did he do to you? Does he represent you? Have you ever met him or talked to him?
Walz is more likely to deliver Wisconsin and maybe Michigan, which are also valuable. (And like the other commenter, I also question the ability of a VP pick to reliably deliver their home state.) Wisconsin seems to really like Walz as much as we do here in Minnesota. And I think he does well in Pennsylvania, Walz has the vibes of an older and more mellow version (but not as old as he looks, school lunchroom duty will age anyone) of what we all thought Fetterman would be. Walz is from a small town, is a former national guardsman and high school football coach, and iirc used to enjoy hunting. He appeals to working class, blue collar voters in ways very few other Democrats can. He’s also involved with the national party (possibly the convention), someone on TikTok knew something was up with Biden just before he dropped out because Walz flew to DC to meet with Biden. The establishment Democrats like him and so do the progressives - he’s exactly who we need right now.
Also, he’s the reason we’re all calling Republicans weird.
I don’t think “running mate from state X will lock down state X” deserves as much credence as political parties give it in general.
Not based on historical data
I don’t think Shapiro would lock PA. I think it’s pretty likely she could pick him and lose the state or not pick him and win.
Nah, I highly doubt him being the VP pick could win the state alone. I think that Waltz is a better pick as a whole, including PA.
We definitely need any help we can get with PA. If PA goes blue that opens up a few avenues to the White House. Without it I think the only route is taking every single other swing state. Or maybe a surprise flip of a red state.
Neither state is in the bag and no one can lock down PA. Shapiro and Walz are both white males. We are in a not very good timeline no matter what, so I’ll try not to worry.
PA is already pretty firmly blue-purple. WI is more an uncertain purple.