Vice-President Kamala Harris will interview her possible running mate this coming Sunday before embarking on a crucial battleground tour next week.
To make the trip to Washington, D.C., sources close to the vice president say, it is scheduled to appear that includes Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. The pool has been trimmed down to five, according to CBS News.
Harris is aware that she has to finalize her pick by the time the Democratic National Convention kicks off on August 19 in Chicago.
Other potential candidates who were floated included Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg; however, their meeting schedules are not known.
Harris finally secured the Democratic presidential nomination last Friday after the party delegate vote. Once the running mate is named, the pairing will hit the ground running- immediately embarking on a tour throughout critical battleground states that could determine the presidency.
Shapiro, incredibly popular since his 2022 election, is a person who can help Harris swing the very crucial state of Pennsylvania. Mark Kelly is a former Navy pilot and NASA astronaut turned senator known for being one of the staunchest supporters of gun safety and immigration, which could be an appeal to independents and conservatives.
Walz is a blunt, somewhat unconventional governor who has harshly criticized a lot of people, including Donald Trump. He has generated a lot of buzz but remains unknown nationally.Â
President Joe Biden weighed in on Harris’s vetting for her running mate, saying that he trusted her judgment but would not mention anyone’s name to public endorsement. Each candidate will go through an intense vetting process of around 200 questions before being considered.
Meanwhile, a new CBS News poll indicates that Harris outpaces her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, both nationally and in the crucial battleground states, where the race continues to be tight. This momentum refuels energy in the Democratic base, particularly among young, Black, and female voters.
However, Trump’s campaign has been bedeviled by controversy since he made some disputed comments about Harris’s racial identity, saying he did not know she was black until a number of years ago. Comments like that elicited very sharp rebukes from Harris’s supporters, including California Senator Laphonza Butler, who described them as “despicable.”
