US election campaign: Who will be Harris’ vice president?

Democratic US presidential candidate Kamala Harris is about to announce her running mate for the November election. The 59-year-old wants to announce her decision at the start of the week and start a blitz campaign tour through the seven most contested states with the new vice president on Tuesday.

In view of the new momentum in the Democratic election campaign, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is stepping up his verbal attacks on his opponent. It is unclear whether and when the two will face each other in a TV debate. The two are publicly arguing about a date for such a duel.

Harris secured her party’s presidential nomination on Friday. In an online vote by the Democrats for the nomination for the presidential election, Harris received the necessary majority of delegate votes long before the end of the vote. Harris will therefore run against Trump in the election on November 5. The Democrats had brought forward their candidate selection for bureaucratic reasons, scheduled it before the start of a major party convention in Chicago in mid-August and carried out the vote digitally.

Choosing the right partner

Now everything is focused on the question of who she will bring to her side as her vice president. Harris held talks with potential partners over the weekend. The selection of a so-called running mate in the US election campaign is usually a complicated and time-consuming process, which now has to be carried out at a rapid pace. Harris was chosen as a candidate at extremely short notice when US President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race.

Harris’ team has announced a campaign tour with the new vice president for the coming week through the seven most contested states: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. In these so-called swing states, it is not clear in advance whether the Republican or Democratic candidate will win, based on tradition. These states are therefore decisive for the election.

For this reason, Harris wants to visit these seven states with her vice president before the Democratic Party Convention begins on August 19. The duo’s first joint rally is scheduled for Tuesday evening (local time) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Harris will therefore announce her vice president by Tuesday at the latest.

These six Democrats are considered the most promising candidates:

Josh Shapiro

The 51-year-old has been governor of the swing state of Pennsylvania since 2023. Before that, he was the state’s attorney general. Shapiro is relatively new to the national political stage. Shapiro is considered to be rather moderate and is very popular. He has been considered for higher office for some time.

Mark Kelly

The 60-year-old is a former astronaut and has already won the Senate seat in the swing state of Arizona twice – a huge success for the Democrats. Kelly is also known to Americans because he is the husband of former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. She struggled to get back to life after an assassination attempt in 2011 and is one of the loudest campaigners for stricter gun laws.

Tim Walz

The 60-year-old has been governor of the state of Minnesota since 2019 and previously served for many years as a member of the House of Representatives. Before his political career, he was a teacher. The father of two does not have a strong national profile, but is known for his down-to-earth manner and direct way of conveying political messages.

Pete Buttigieg

The 42-year-old caused a sensation in 2020 as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Today he is Secretary of Transportation in Biden’s cabinet, making him the first openly gay federal minister in the USA. In recent years he has been able to distribute large sums of money in infrastructure investments across the country. Buttigieg speaks several languages, is quick-witted and has long been considered the party’s great hope.

Andy Beshear

The 46-year-old is the governor of the state of Kentucky. In the state, people usually vote for the Republican candidate in the presidential election. Beshear is said to have bipartisan appeal. Before becoming governor, he was the state’s attorney general. Beshear’s father was also governor of Kentucky.

JB Pritzker

The 59-year-old is the governor of Illinois – a state that is firmly in the hands of the Democrats. The billionaire comes from a wealthy family of entrepreneurs. The lawyer has invested in tech start-ups and is also considered to be well connected within the party. However, he is not particularly well known nationally.

Confrontation with Trump

Due to the short-term change at the top of the Democrats, a lot of attention is currently focused on Harris – to the displeasure of Trump. He has recently toughened his tone against Harris and showered his rival with nasty insults. At a campaign event in Atlanta, Georgia, he denigrated her as “stupid”, “crazy” and a “radical left freak”, among other things.

Trump and Harris are currently engaged in a public tussle over a date for a TV debate. Trump announced on his online platform Truth Social that he had agreed on a date for a debate with Harris on September 4 with the television channel Fox News. Harris, on the other hand, is insisting on a previously agreed date on September 10 with the broadcaster ABC. Both accused each other of ducking out of fear of the other.