Twenty-Four Thoughts On The Harris Veepstakes
And a different, slightly more qualified case for Tim Walz
I decided to send this out right away instead of scheduling it for Monday morning because there’s a non-trivial chance that the Kamala Harris campaign will leak the name of her running mate sometime tomorrow, even though the official announcement is scheduled for Tuesday. So the window of relevance may be smaller than usual.
The truth is Harris almost certainly knows who she intends to nominate, and no clever assessment of the pros and cons of various choices will change her thinking now. But what’s the point of doing this if you preemptively decide nothing matters? Also, if the only thing this list achieves is helping a few readers clarify their own thinking—well, you’re who I ultimately work for.
With that said, here are 24 thoughts on the Harris veepstakes, comprising basically all of my thinking about Harris’s potential running mates, what she should do, what she’s likely to do, why, etc.
The nickel version: I think Tim Walz is, narrowly, the strongest candidate on her short list, but not by leaps and bounds. I see him as something like best among equals. I also think his loudest advocates misportray what makes him such a strong choice, and overstate the demerits of rivals, particularly Josh Shapiro.
That’s another way of saying, I’m narrowly pro-Walz, but am also agreeable. Conditional on none of them having career-ending skeletons in their closets, the whole bench is solid. Harris-Shapiro? Sounds great. Harris-Buttigieg? Here for it. Harris-Beshear? Not bad at all! Harris-Kelly? Seems a bit risky, but astronauts are cool! Harris-Whitmer? What’s not to like? Harris-Warnock? Fuck the naysayers. Etc.
Harris should almost certainly just pick whoever she gels with best, once she's satisfied that he’d do a good job in the presidency, and make a strong presidential candidate in eight years.
All that said, I assume she will pick Shapiro.