Democratic voters already seem more enthusiastic now that Vice President Kamala Harris is at the top of the list. Now they want to know who she will choose as her running mate and they already have their own favorites.
About a dozen leading Democrats are being mentioned as potential runners-up, including Governors Josh Shapiro, Roy Cooper, JB Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer and Tim Walz, as well as Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Harris breaks barriers as the first woman of color to become the presumptive presidential nominee on a major party ticket. She will also be the first candidate from the West Coast to secure the Democratic nomination.
Her supporters indicated at her rally in Milwaukee on Tuesday that they are open to the list of names that have already surfaced.
But many told DailyMail.com that the most important thing is to choose the person who will best help her defeat Donald Trump and balance the ticket. There is no clear frontrunner as to who that would be.
“I think she has a lot of good people to choose from,” said Courtney Ryan, 40, of Madison, Wisconsin.
“I hope she picks a governor from a swing state who can really help secure some additional states in the election. Roy Cooper would be a good candidate,” Ryan said.
An average of recent polls of a Trump-Harris 2024 matchup shows an extremely close race, with Trump leading the vice president by less than two points. Every poll conducted since President Biden withdrew and Harris jumped in has been within the margin of error.
“I really like Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina. I really like him,” agreed Anthony Banks, 66, of Milwaukee.
“I like Mark Kelly, but I’m leaning more toward Josh Shapiro,” Rosanda Arndt said. “There’s just something about him that really resonates, and I think he would be a really good match.”
Several Wisconsin Democrats told DailyMail.com they would like to see Gov. Shapiro or Sen. Kelly as the vice president’s running mate. Those names were the most frequently mentioned, but they were not the only candidates being floated
“We have so much talent there that I feel pretty comfortable with whoever they choose. It’s in the best interest of the nation, and it’s the nation first,” Arndt added.
“That’s going to be a big deal. I heard the buzz about Kelly,” said Milwaukee’s Mitch Hancock. “I think he’d be a good possibility, or Whitmer from Michigan.”
“I still have to do some research. I just saw the list this morning,” Maria Olig said. “I’m a Mark Kelly fan. So with what I know, he’s at the top of my list.”
But Karen Siegel of Bayside, Wisconsin, has her own reservations about Harris choosing a senator as her running mate.
“I heard all the names that were mentioned. Josh Shapiro, the governor of North Carolina. Josh Shapiro seems good. I think it should be a governor. I don’t want Kelly to be removed from the Senate, so I think one of those two is good,” Siegel said.
The current governor of Arizona is a Democrat, so if Kelly were elected, his temporary replacement would likely also be a Democrat.
But at some point, a special election would have to be held to find a permanent replacement. And since Arizona is both a presidential and Senate-senate-deciding state, Siegel doesn’t want to risk who wins the seat when the Senate majority is so small.
Many Democratic voters are turning away from their dream candidates and toward what they consider most realistic. But beyond the reported shortlist, there were a few outliers in the mix.
Woman at Harris’ Wisconsin rally wears shirt that reads ‘Harris and anyone who isn’t JD Vance 2024’
“I know it’s not going to happen, but I would love it if Mayor Pete Buttigieg were vice president,” said Neil Fulton, a history teacher from West Bend, Wisconsin.
“But I think we already have enough momentum working against Kamala Harris, so adding another momentum could only hurt the ticket even more,” he added.
“I know a lot of people have thrown out Michelle Obama and Gavin Newsom. But first of all, I don’t think Michelle is diversifying the ticket enough. I don’t think she has any interest in it,” admitted Joette Rockow of Milwaukee.
I think Gavin [Newsom] is a little bit further to the left than we need, so I think someone like Shapiro or [Kentucky Governor] “Beshear or Pritzker or someone like that would be great,” she said.
Rockew believes Shapiro is the ‘“The kind of person she needs to fill out the ticket.”
What Democratic voters do agree on is that the top of the list is the most important. There has been a shift in enthusiasm for reform.
A new CNN poll finds that 50 percent of people who support Harris say they will vote for her over Trump.
That’s a huge shift from the Trump-Biden matchup. Last month’s CNN poll found that just 37 percent of Biden voters said their vote was for the president rather than against the ex-president.
