Who could replace Harris as vice president? Meet her potential candidates

If she becomes the Democratic presidential nominee, as many expect, Vice President Kamala Harris will have a wide variety of potential running mates, many of whom come from key swing states that are crucial to both parties in the 2024 presidential race.

Conventional wisdom suggests that picking a candidate from a key state would be wise, but such a choice does not guarantee that Democrats will win the state. That idea could open the door to other politicians who have simply shown an ability to appeal to voters across the country’s deep ideological divisions.

Here’s a quick look at who are expected to be the leading contenders to round out the ticket if Harris wins the nomination.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper

Cooper became governor in 2017 after a long political career in a state that Democrats have closely contested in recent presidential elections.

Cooper rose to national prominence in 2016 when, as attorney general, he opposed House Bill 2, a measure that would have required individuals to use bathrooms based on their gender identity assigned at birth. Cooper denounced the law as unconstitutional and refused to go to court to defend it.

The law sparked nationwide protests, with many companies refusing to do business in North Carolina. One estimate put the economic damage to the state at $3.76 billion, as many entertainers, sports teams and others said they would no longer do business there.

In 2017, the year after the law was enacted, it was partially repealed by the North Carolina Legislature, a reversal supported by Cooper. Most of the other laws lapsed in 2020 due to a sunset provision.

Cooper faced the incumbent Republican governor. Pat McCrorywho had supported the bathroom bill. Although Cooper took a clear lead in the 2016 election, McCrory claimed voter fraud, but did not provide evidence. Recounts eventually increased Cooper’s lead, and McCrory finally conceded his wrongdoing a month after the election.

Cooper, 67, is starting his second term and has deep political experience in the swing state, having served nearly two decades in the North Carolina House of Representatives and Senate. He was elected state attorney general in 2000 before rising to the state’s top political office.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro

Shapiro beat a right-wing opponent backed by Donald Trump to win the 2022 election, keeping the Keystone State in the hands of two consecutive Democratic governors, a rarity. At just 51, the popular Shapiro would bring a youthful tone to the Democratic ticket.

He gained national attention when Interstate 95 collapsed in June 2023 and reopened just two weeks later. More recently, his words of condolence and comfort after former President Trump was injured at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, earned him praise from members of both parties.

Some political observers said that as a Jew and a staunch supporter of Israel, Shapiro would help attract votes from some Jewish voters who were disaffected with the party after the Hamas attack and the pro-Palestinian protests that followed.

Shapiro also worked in a divided government, with Democrats and Republicans each controlling one of Pennsylvania’s legislative chambers.

Shapiro took to social media on Sunday to congratulate Bidencalling him a patriot and adding: “President Biden has done an incredible job moving our country forward, defending our democracy and protecting true freedom.”

For those looking for signs that Harris might be entering the vice presidential race, here’s what to remember: Shapiro was one of the first potential candidates to issue a statement fully endorsing Harris’s candidacy for the Democratic vice presidential nomination. He said that he and Harris had both served as criminal prosecutors. Shapiro called Harris “a patriot worthy of our support.”

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer

Whitmer has twice won elections in a key swing state that Democrats see as critical to maintaining control of the White House.

The 52-year-old governor became a particular heroine to Democrats after it was revealed she was the target of a kidnapping plot by right-wing extremists.

She has been particularly vocal in her advocacy for women’s rights and reproductive freedom, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down abortion rights. Whitmer had called on Biden to speak out more aggressively on the issue, which polls show gives Democrats an advantage.

After Biden announced he was withdrawing from the race, Whitmer posted on social media that “my job in this election will remain the same: to do everything I can to elect Democrats and stop Donald Trump, a convicted felon whose agenda of raising costs for families, banning abortion nationwide and abusing the power of the White House to settle his own scores is completely wrong for Michigan.”

Christopher J. Devine, a political scientist at the University of Dayton in Ohio, said Whitmer “is appealing because she is an experienced governor, in her second term, who has been prominent on the national stage and who has, by all accounts, been quite successful.”

Devine is co-author, with Kyle C. Kopko, of “Do Running Mates Matter? The Influence of Vice Presidential Candidates in Presidential Elections.” Their conclusion: to some extent, yes.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear

At just 46, Beshear would also bring a youthful vigor to Democrats, who will face a Republican field that includes Vice President J.D. Vance, the 39-year-old senator from Ohio.

Beshear has successfully carved out his own political identity, independent of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. A former state attorney general who was elected governor in 2019, Beshear struck a decisive blow for voting rights in 2019 when he signed an executive order restoring voting rights to 180,315 Kentuckians, many of them Black, who had been convicted of nonviolent crimes.

Beshear has sought to expand his national profile by launching a political action committee to support Democrats in other red and swing states.

Like other candidates considered for a spot on the ticket, Beshear has been careful not to push Biden to move on.

---

Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock

Warnock demonstrated his ability to triumph in a closely-divided state in the same election that put Biden in the White House. His narrow victory helped give Democrats their Senate majority.

A Baptist minister, Warnock was the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, the same Atlanta church that made Martin Luther King Jr. famous. Before entering politics, Warnock, 54, led a campaign to expand Medicaid coverage in Georgia and also chaired a nonpartisan organization that expanded voter registration.

Arizona Senator Mark Kelly

Kelly is a centrist who won the 2020 election. He has the kind of apolitical background that could appeal to many voters, especially independents.

Kelly, 60, served as a combat pilot in the Navy and became an astronaut, like his twin brother, Scott.

He gained national attention when his wife, then-U.S. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, was shot in the head and nearly killed while meeting with constituents in 2011 at an event near Tucson. The shooting killed six people and wounded a dozen others, in addition to Giffords.

The episode transformed Giffords and her husband into leading advocates for gun control, a role Giffords continued vigorously after she resigned from Congress in 2012.

Like Shapiro, Kelly immediately expressed support for Harris as the national Democratic leader. In a post on the social media site X, he called her “the perfect person to defeat Donald Trump and lead our country into the future.”

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg

Buttigieg, 42, was a little-known mayor of South Bend, Indiana, when he campaigned for the presidency against Biden, Harris and a slew of other Democrats in 2020.

“Mayor Pete,” as he was often called, surprised many pundits by finishing a close one-two with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Iowa primary. Buttigieg then finished second to Sanders in the New Hampshire primary, before a fourth-place finish in the South Carolina primary forced him out of the race.

Much like Harris, who could become the first female president, Buttigieg is also a potential trailblazer. He would be the first openly LGBTQ+ individual elected to a presidential ticket.

As a U.S. Navy veteran who served in Afghanistan, he would bring military experience to the Democratic ticket, matching the armed services background of the GOP’s Vance, who served in the Marine Corps.

Buttigieg served as transportation secretary under Biden and is beloved by Democrats as a nimble, charismatic politician with excellent debating skills. He was among many Democrats who quickly rallied to Harris’ camp Sunday, with a message on social media: “I will do everything I can to help Kamala Harris become the next president of the United States.”

Get the LA Times Politics newsletter. In-depth coverage of legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond, delivered to your inbox three times a week.

This article was originally published in the Los Angeles Times.