Kamala Harris to pick running mate before battleground states tour
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00:00In the United States, Kamala Harris is due to announce her running mate Tuesday after
00:04holding a series of interviews with top contenders at her vice president's residence in Washington
00:08over the weekend.
00:10Her first public appearance as the Democratic candidate alongside that new VP nominee is
00:14set for Tuesday in Philadelphia before the two will set off on a cross-country tour across
00:19several battleground states likely to decide the election.
00:23We're going to talk more about all of this now with political analyst Christiane Anly
00:27who joins me now.
00:28Christiane, you are also a strategy consultant for the Democratic Party.
00:33I mean, break it down for us.
00:34Who are the top contenders at this point to be Kamala Harris's VP candidate?
00:39Well, we've heard since yesterday is that there really are the big three right now.
00:43So Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania, Tim Walz of Minnesota, and then also Mark
00:48Kelly of Arizona.
00:50Mark Kelly, of course, is the husband of Gabby Giffords, who famously was a congresswoman
00:54who survived a shooting in Arizona several years ago.
00:59Mark Kelly is also a former military man and an astronaut, really is a strong contender.
01:05But there is some concern.
01:06You know, he comes from Arizona, which, you know, if he were to leave his current position
01:10in the Senate, that would be a bit of a risk.
01:12Tim Walz has become really a great messenger for Democrats and for Kamala Harris during
01:17this campaign.
01:18He's the governor of Minnesota and he has that Midwestern appeal.
01:22But the thing is that Minnesota, you know, pretty much the opposite of Arizona is a
01:27solidly blue state.
01:28So it's not sure that he would really bring anything with him in terms of electoral votes
01:32should he join the ticket.
01:33And then there's Josh Shapiro, who is the governor of Pennsylvania, very strong contender.
01:38Pennsylvania used to be solidly blue, but as we all know from 2016, not so much anymore.
01:43He really is competence personified, really strong contender.
01:46He's probably the most logical choice out of the three, but all three are very strong
01:50contenders.
01:51And it's interesting you mentioned Josh Shapiro, because given that the very first public appearance
01:55of the two together is going to be in Pennsylvania, is that a sign, do you think, that it will
01:59be Josh Shapiro?
02:01It could be.
02:02But then again, I believe all three were at the Naval Observatory yesterday for meetings.
02:06It seems to be the most obvious choice, Josh Shapiro, especially given that the choice,
02:11like you said, of Pennsylvania, of Philadelphia for the first public appearance.
02:15But that remains to be seen.
02:16You know, it could be any of the three.
02:18But I do think that Shapiro right now is the frontrunner.
02:21Right.
02:22You work as a strategy consultant for the Democrats.
02:24I mean, strategically, what would be the best choice?
02:28I am leaning towards Shapiro.
02:29I don't think there's any bad choices of these three.
02:32I think Tim Walz could help a lot in places like Michigan and Wisconsin, because he's
02:36from a neighboring state.
02:38Mark Kelly, maybe less so, also another candidate from the far west, like Kamala Harris herself.
02:44But Josh Shapiro really could bring Pennsylvania with him and also help in other Rust Belt
02:48states.
02:49He's quite a fighter.
02:50He really has been taking the case against Trump to Trump's front step, really has been
02:55fighting back against Trump's very anti-American attacks on Kamala Harris and against the country,
03:01really.
03:02He seems to be the best positioned to help the campaign strategically by bringing in
03:05Pennsylvania's electoral votes and possibly helping as well in Michigan and Wisconsin.
03:10Right.
03:11In the meantime, what is the Trump campaign doing these days?
03:14I mean, it does seem a bit like it's having a hard time finding just how to attack Vice
03:18President Harris where it hurts.
03:20Yeah, no, seriously.
03:21And this was something that we were all talking about just I mean, the last two weeks feels
03:25like a lifetime.
03:26But even just in the past two weeks, he really had doubled down on this whole line of attack
03:31against Joe Biden as being elderly, as being, you know, lacking energy, not being able to
03:36keep up with it.
03:37And now he's got Kamala Harris, who is, you know, 20 years his junior, who's a veteran
03:42prosecutor, who's full of energy.
03:44And he's trying, I mean, he goes to to Georgia and gives this speech where he's talking about
03:49the crowd size and not about his opponent.
03:52He tries calling her different names like laughing Kamala or lying Kamala and all these
03:56these goofy things that don't really work.
03:58I mean, that was really his trademark in 2016 was finding these these quick jabs against
04:03his opponents.
04:04And with Kamala Harris, none of them are sticking in terms of strategy and direction.
04:07They're flailing right now.
04:08I mean, we were going in it.
04:10We were in a position back when Biden was still in the race where states that were considered
04:14to be not in the toss up column like North Carolina, excuse me, like Virginia, or were
04:20considered to be maybe toss up because Trump was pulling so far ahead after that debate.
04:25But since Kamala Harris has got in the race, now we're looking at not only Virginia not
04:29being a toss up anymore, but now now Republicans are on the defensive in North Carolina and
04:35elsewhere.
04:36So they're they're losing ground.
04:38And I think there's really a lot of panic and they're not seeing how they can go all
04:41of a sudden from being ahead in places like New Hampshire to falling behind in North Carolina.
04:46And just a quick word before you go about the debates, I mean, do you think these debates
04:49are actually going to happen both between the presidential candidates and the eventual
04:52vice presidential candidate?
04:54I mean, I sincerely hope so.
04:56I love debates.
04:57I watch debates, whether they're in our country's elections or in France or the U.K. or anywhere
05:01else.
05:02I love good political debates.
05:03But I think Trump has reason to be worried and I would not be surprised if he remains
05:07chicken and stays out.
05:09He wanted to do the debates against Biden because they're both elderly men.
05:13But he he can say his falsehoods with certainty and come across as strong on stage, whereas
05:18Biden could not have that same sort of theatrical performance.
05:21But against Kamala Harris, he's going to look foolish and he knows that.
05:24And so I think he might continue to to resist meeting her on stage, unfortunately.
05:29All right, Christian.
05:30Thank you for that.
05:31Thank you for being there speaking to me about that potential VP pick for the Democratic
05:35presidential candidate Kamala Harris.