The Kamala Harris veepstakes has no bad options

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After President Joe Biden announced that he’s ending his re-election campaign and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, there’s speculation about whom Harris might pick as her running mate in the likely scenario that she wins the Democratic nomination. NBC News has a list of potential picks, all of whom bring something unique to the table. As I see it, none of the picks mentioned would be bad by any stretch of the imagination. But there are some who I think stand apart from the rest. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona Narratively speaking, Kelly might offer the most upside. He’s a former naval captain turned astronaut who made a foray into politics after his wife, then-Rep. Gabby Giffords, was severely wounded in a mass shooting in Arizona. He’s a popular senator from a crucial swing state that has been trending toward Democrats in recent years. He also has been a longtime Harris supporter, having endorsed her Senate candidacy in California in 2016. His military background and outspokenness on behalf of veterans give him credence among people who have served; he would counterbalance the presence of Sen. JD Vance, a Marine veteran, on Trump’s ticket; and he also would help undermine right-wing nonsense about diversity measures being a top issue plaguing the military. Furthermore, Kelly has been vocal on the matter of immigration — a salient political issue in his home state — and earlier this year denounced Trump’s successful effort to tank bipartisan immigration legislation. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro Shapiro is another popular governor of a potential swing state. His 2022 defeat of MAGA extremist Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race showed that he’s unafraid of highlighting Trumpian attacks on democracy in plain speak, and he has shown charm and deftness in interviews that could further distinguish Harris’ ticket as the youthful and exuberant one relative to Trump’s old-fashioned authoritarianism. He would also be just the second Jewish vice presidential nominee, after Joe Lieberman, which could send a powerful message in response to the documented antisemitism within the MAGA movement. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper Cooper, who previously served as North Carolina’s attorney general, is about to be termed out but has maintained popularity in his state despite its trend toward Republicans in recent years. Despite the GOP’s efforts to curtail his powers as governor once he was elected, Cooper has shown an ability to achieve long-sought reform — like Medicaid expansion — in a state where Republicans control the legislature. Having Cooper on the ticket with Harris could give Democrats more confidence in competing for North Carolina, particularly if — as some have predicted — extremist-friendly candidates like Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial nominee, drive Democratic turnout. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear At 46 years old, Beshear is the youngest potential veep pick on my list of possibles. Like Harris and Shapiro, he served as his state’s attorney general before becoming governor. Beshear’s father was a governor, so he has a political lineage in Kentucky despite the state’s conservative leanings and has won elections over MAGA candidates while being a vocal supporter of abortion rights. It seems unlikely that having Beshear on the ticket would put Kentucky in play, but he has exhibited an ability to speak to white rural voters that could certainly help Harris in key battleground states.