Joe Biden endorses Kamala Harris: who could be her running mate?

Though many Democrats have long hoped for a presidential run from Newsom, currently the governor of California, and eyes quickly turned to him following Biden’s infamous debate performance, him as Harris’ running mate is unlikely.

Both him and Harris, previously a senator and attorney general of California, represent California, and although legally allowed, an odd quirk in the U.S. Constitution’s 12th Amendment means that their win could be easily contested if the margin of error is close, because it states presidential electors cannot vote for a president and a vice president who are both from the same state.

Whitmer is currently serving her second term as the governor of Michigan, where she has a broad and diverse following, who have affectionately nicknamed her “Big Gretch.”

In 2020, she was reportedly on Biden’s shortlist of potential running mates, and later became co-chair of the Biden-Harris reelection campaign. In the wake of Biden’s decision, she wrote on X: “My job in this election will remain the same: doing everything I can to elect Democrats and stop Donald Trump, a convicted felon whose agenda of raising families’ costs, banning abortion nationwide, and abusing the power of the White House to settle his own scores is completely wrong for Michigan.”

Pritzker became governor of Illinois in 2019, and amid this year’s election season, has become a popular voice for progressives among the Democratic Party.

Aside from his role as governor, however, he is also best known for being a member of the wealthy Pritzker family, who founded the Hyatt hotel chain. Pritzker currently stands as the wealthiest politician in the U.S., and has an estimated net worth of $3 billion.

Kelly, a junior senator from Arizona since 2020, has been at the top of the list of Harris’ rumored running mates even before Biden’s decision was made official, though he had firmly expressed his support for a Biden-Harris ticket even after many of his colleagues called for the president to step down.

Part of the senator’s appeal is not only that he represents a swing state — he flipped the late John McCain’s senate seat from red to blue — but he has been especially beloved since in 2011, his wife, former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, survived an assassination attempt that left six people dead.

At a time when the Democratic Party has unity as one of its priorities, Shapiro, currently the governor of Pennsylvania, has been considered as someone potentially capable of breaking through the country’s intense divide.

Though he is currently only in his second year as governor, and may be a less prominent figure than other potential candidates, that he could secure swing votes across the Rust Belt has become a significant part of his appeal.

Similarly to Shapiro, Beshear, who is currently serving his second term as governor of Kentucky — one of the country’s most conservative states — is seen as a unifying figure who has already garnered a wide array of voters and supporters across the political aisle in two elections.

Senator Joe Manchin, who became an Independent in 2024 after increasingly alienating himself from the Democratic Party, pointed out during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, referring to both Shapiro and Beshear: “They haven’t divided their state. They haven’t made you pick a side and demonized the other side,” maintaining: “They’ve brought people together.”