OPINION | Harris Focusing on Wrong Finalists for Running Mate

VP ought to choose North Carolina’s Cooper

Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly is focusing on the wrong candidates to become her running mate.

She and her campaign have narrowed a short list to three elected officials with nationwide appeal: Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Instead, she ought to be trained on a single candidate: Roy Cooper, the outgoing governor of North Carolina.

Certainly, as a one-time fighter pilot and astronaut and current popular senator from the swing state of Arizona, Kelly might appear a smart choice at first blush.

However, in an election cycle already stacked against Democrats in the Senate, pulling Kelly from his seat in the upper chamber hardly makes sense.

If she’s inaugurated on January 20, 2025, a President Harris is going to need to at least hold the Democratic majority in the Senate to get her agenda though. Pulling Kelly out of the Senate would open unneeded uncertainty that a Republican would fill the seat in a special election. Better to leave him where he is.

Shapiro?

He’s only a couple of years into his job as governor. But more importantly, at a time when Harris has to be doing more for Palestinians under siege in Gaza in order to bring home crucial younger voters, Josh Shapiro would only make matters worse.

A recent piece in The New Republic probably put it best:

Unfortunately, Shapiro also stands out among the current field of potential running mates as being egregiously bad on Palestine. It’s not just that he, like many Democrats, is an outspoken supporter of Israel—though he certainly is, having championed Israel’s war against Hamas consistently and without any apparent concern for Palestinian civilians. Shapiro has, moreover, done far more than most Democrats to attack pro-Palestine antiwar demonstrators, in ways that call into question his basic commitment to First Amendment rights.

For a candidate like Harris who’s at least taking steps in the right direction on Palestinian safety, security and sovereignty — she notably skipped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent speech to the US Congress — Josh Shapiro ought to be anathema.

Tim Walz probably is the least bad on the reported Harris VP short list, and he mostly has a solid progressive record leading the crucial swing state of Minnesota.

And like the others, he is a white man.

However, Walz tends to look older than his 60 years. In an election where voters are looking for candidates who project a certain vigor and youth, that could be a problem.

Roy Cooper, on the other hand, ticks many boxes.

At 67, he’s actually older but generally looks younger.

Term-limited, Cooper’s already heading towards the exits in a few months so there’s no inherent risk of a Republican pick-up with his selection.

He’s also developed a proven record fighting for Democratic priorities in a state in which he faces a Republican-led state legislature. That includes expanding Medicaid on his watch.

The icing on his cake, quite honestly, that Southern twang he carries. Cooper likely would get a more welcome reception in some swing states and with some moderate and independent voters that other potential picks might not.

Lastly, the inclusion of Cooper might just buy Harris the Tar Heel State. Barack Obama is the last Democrat to carry North Carolina in 2008, and four years ago President Biden lost it by less than 1.5 percent.

In other words, North Carolina is eminently flippable and Roy Cooper is the man who could make that happen.

And in an election that could be agonizingly close, the state’s 16 electoral votes could be those that carry the first Black woman into the Oval Office.

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