Possible No. 2s include Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), who appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday to talk about why he called Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), “weird”; and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who appeared on “Fox News Sunday” in a personal capacity, arguing that Trump is “older and weirder” than he used to be.
Walz and Buttigieg are engaging in the not-so-subtle campaign of running mates, an exercise that has been honed by potential vice presidential candidates, with The vice presidential hopefuls have been successful, with varying degrees of success, throughout modern political history. From operating covert recruiting operations to appearing on a nominee’s favorite morning show, those on the vice presidential shortlist are tasked with selling themselves, their track record, and their ability to deliver messages effectively—all without coming across as too thirsty or desperate.
This year’s crop of potential running mates is not shy, and their cases are being made public largely because of the abbreviated voting season, given Harris’s sudden emergence at the top of the Democratic ticket after President Biden’s announcement that he would not seek reelection just a week ago. Vice presidential candidates are hitting the airwaves and the campaign trail to showcase their credentials and vie for Harris’ No. 2 role.
Over the weekend, Walz, Buttigieg and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) appeared on Sunday television shows, while Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) campaigned in support of Harris.
In his TV appearance, Walz coyly declined to say whether he had received investigative materials after vigorously defending his record in a state where Trump and Vance had attended a rally the day before.
“What a monster,” Walz said during his CNN appearance, jokingly responding to potential attacks on him as a big-government liberal. “Kids are eating and having a full belly so they can go learn and women are making their own decisions about health care. And we’re one of the top five entrepreneurial states and we also rank in the top three in happiness.”
On Fox, Buttigieg argued that voters share his concerns about Trump’s age and mental acuity, a day after telling the New York Times he didn’t think it was “appropriate” to say whether he would make a good vice president or whether he wanted to be vice president.
Harris is considering roughly a dozen vice presidential candidates. But three Democrats have risen to the top, The Washington Post previously reported, including Shapiro, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D). Kelly and Cooper appear to have kept a low profile over the weekend, not appearing on the Sunday talk show circuit.
The unprecedented timeline for naming a No. 2 has turbocharged the search for Harris’s replacement as the party’s vice presidential nominee, as she is well on her way to the Democratic presidential nomination after securing more than two-thirds of the delegates needed to become the official nominee over the course of her weeklong bid. Those involved in the process have cautioned that the search is in its early stages — though Harris is expected to make a decision by Aug. 7, in line with the Democratic Party’s plans to nominate a running mate virtually.
Harris made headlines over the weekend when she announced Sunday morning that she had raised $200 million since entering the race, two-thirds of which came from first-time donors.
Several of the contenders have taken up a new line of attack against Trump and Vance, one that Harris has adopted in recent campaign remarks and statements: Trump and Vance are “just plain weird,” an attack on the Republican ticket that Walz debuted.
“They’re just weird, I mean, they really are,” Pritzker said on ABC News’ “This Week,” criticizing Trump for being “afraid of windmills” and Vance for advocating higher tax rates for childless adults.
Buttigieg, who also appeared on MSNBC on Sunday, argued that Vance’s “weird or insulting” characterization of the Democratic Party as “childless cat ladies” also leads to “weird politics,” referring to Vance’s 2021 proposal to bolster the political power of families by giving parents the ability to vote on their children’s behalf.
Though he wasn’t on Sunday’s broadcasts, Shapiro rallied for Harris in central Pennsylvania on Saturday in front of hundreds of voters. Going over the vice president’s record, Shapiro argued that she was well-positioned to lead the country and defeat Trump, and warned voters about what he said would happen if Trump returned to the White House.
“You’re going to open up this Project 2025,” Shapiro said, referring to a 900-page blueprint for a second Trump term drafted by former — and likely future — Trump administration leaders. “It’s packed with some crazy ideas, some dangerous ideas, but ideas that he plans to pursue if he gets the keys to the White House again.”
Beshear, the twice-elected Democratic governor of a deeply Republican state, delivered a keynote address at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Freedom and Justice Celebration on Saturday night, where he sang Harris’s praises before heading to Forsyth County, Georgia, on Sunday morning to headline a campaign event for her. Beshear also repeatedly attacked Vance for trying to profit off Kentuckians with his novel “Hillbilly Elegy” and for misrepresenting Appalachia.
“JD Vance is a phony, a phony,” Beshear said on CNN’s “The Source” last week. “The problem is JD Vance has no conviction, but I think the problem is his running mate has 34.”
A few options from different demographic backgrounds have been mentioned as potential options to join Harris on the ticket, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Both have dismissed claims that voters are not ready for two women on the ticket.
But the conventional political wisdom that has crystallized is that if Harris — the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India — wants to win, she would be wise to pick a counterweight to broaden her appeal to voters: in other words, a white man from a swing state.
That wisdom has spawned a flurry of memes since Harris emerged as the likely Democratic nominee. “Who will be vice president?” one user posted on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, over a photo of a “mystery white” Airheads candy. “Kamala’s VP picks”: another user posted to describe a photo of a series of white paint swatches labeled “Trusted Whites: 40 of Our Best Whites.”
If there is one criterion that Democrats have begun to coalesce around, it is that Harris could benefit from choosing a candidate from one of the swing states that will likely decide the election.
Last week, the Arizona Democratic Party endorsed Kelly for vice president, the Philadelphia Democratic Party endorsed Shapiro and the North Carolina Democratic Party endorsed Cooper. Asked about the trend on Sunday, Pritzker acknowledged that “winning those battleground states is the most important thing” — but not definitive, he added.
“But I think we’ve seen over the last few decades that who you pick as your vice president doesn’t determine whether you win a state or not,” he said. “What determines it is whether you get the message right across the board.”
