Tucson – Vice President Kamala Harris has begun a “thorough” process of selecting a running mate to become the 47th president of the United States, his campaign manager confirmed to CBS News in an exclusive interview in Arizona on Friday.
“The vice president has begun a process that is probably one of the most important she will undertake in her career as a presidential candidate,” Julie Chávez Rodríguez said when asked if Harris had narrowed down her list of potential running mates.
Chavez Rodriguez said the campaign was “thrilled to see” Harris “go through this process” of choose a democrat to join his 2024 ticket, saying the effort would be “thorough and significant.”
“As a campaign, we’re going to be preparing to have an extremely strong ticket in the coming weeks,” she added.
Harris’ campaign has considered a dozen potential vice presidential candidates, CBS News previously reportedincluding Democratic Governors Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Tim Walz of Minnesota, as well as Arizona Senator Mark Kelly.
When asked if Kelly was among the proposals under consideration, Chavez Rodríguez said, “I am not going to get ahead of the vice president.”
Kelly, a former NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy pilot who is considered a moderate Democrat in Congress, would be a notable vice presidential pick for Harris. He represents a border state that remains politically competitive, despite major Democratic victories in Arizona in recent years. Mr. Biden won the Grand Canyon State in 2020, but polls before he dropped out of the race showed him losing to Trump this year.
Sources close to the Harris campaign told CBS News that the likely nominee’s search for a running mate will end on August 7.
Harris has ‘strong’ appeal in Arizona, campaign manager says
Along with the Midwestern states that form the “blue wall,” Arizona is one of a handful of Sunbelt states that will be key to the November presidential race. In 2020, President Biden became the first Democratic candidate to win Arizona since 1996, but he was just 10,000 votes ahead of former President Donald Trump.
Asked whether Harris had a better chance of winning Arizona than Biden, Chavez Rodríguez said the vice president could appeal to key constituencies in the state, including young people, Latinos, women and Native Americans.
“The core coalition of voters that we need to win here in Arizona are voters with whom the vice president has real appeal,” she said.
Chavez Rodriguez mentioned that “reproductive rights are on the agenda here in Arizona,” referring to a proposed amendment that would guarantee access to abortion in the state. The bill could be put to a vote in November.
“This is a problem that [Harris] “It is one of the most important issues politically,” she said.
Camilo Montoya-Galvez
