By Noah Kolenda, OpenSecrets.org
After Vice President Kamala Harris assumed President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and locked down enough presumed support from delegates to become the Democratic nominee, speculation quickly turned to who might join her at the top of the ticket.
Many of Harris’ potential vice presidential picks are largely the same as those who were floated to replace Biden. Most are also record-setting fundraisers, something that could prove imperative in the final months before Election Day. The last presidential election set a new record with contributions totaling more than double totals from the prior presidential cycle.
The Harris campaign is expected to make a decision before Aug. 6 ahead of a multistate campaign tour set to in part roll out its pick for the vice presidency. While all of the contenders have endorsed Harris’ presidential run, their willingness to join the ticket in the VP slot is not as straightforward.
J.B. Pritzker
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s campaign war chest has broken records but the source of those funds is a bit different than some other veepstakes contenders.
Over the course of his two gubernatorial runs, Pritzker’s campaigns took in over $335.6 million, $323.6 million of which was self-funded from Pritzker’s own pockets. This marked the first time that an Illinois gubernatorial campaign attracted hundreds of millions of dollars and secured Pritzker’s spots for the most fundraised gubernatorial campaigns in Illinois history, according to OpenSecrets data.
A staunch Biden supporter, Pritzker held fundraising events for the current president’s now-suspended reelection campaign as early as last June.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Harris campaign requested vice presidential vetting materials from five governors, though Pritzker stated on July 23 he had not received such a request and continued to emphasize that his focus is on supporting Harris.
“Look, I have so much respect for Kamala Harris, and it would be hard not to consider it seriously,” Pritzker said in a July 27 MSNBC interview.
Since then, Pritzker claims he has spoken to Harris and her campaign team “over and over again” but side-stepped questions about vetting in an interview with USA Today published July 31.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) has a strong fundraising record as well. His 2020 U.S. Senate special election campaign ranks seventh among the highest-funded races in congressional history, totaling $99.9 million raised for the cycle, according to OpenSecrets data.
Kelly raised another $89.2 million for his full-term reelection in 2022, making it the 10th most-funded race in congressional history. Kelly has further spent a good portion of 2024 campaigning for fellow congressional Democrats and for Biden before he exited the race.
When it comes to being a possible pick for vice president, Kelly and his staff have been guarded. Kelly is reportedly on the list of people the Harris campaign is vetting for the spot but hasn’t publicly commented on whether he’d be interested in joining the ticket. Kelly’s staff did not respond to an OpenSecrets request for comment.
Pete Buttigieg
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also has a history of high-dollar fundraising during his 2020 presidential campaign. Before suspending his presidential bid, Buttigieg raised just shy of $100 million. Buttigieg previously served as Mayor of South Bend, Ind., and unsuccessfully sought the position of DNC chairman in 2017.
A fierce supporter of the Biden-Harris campaign, Buttigieg joined a campaign fundraiser alongside Harris one day before Biden withdrew from the presidential race. Politico reports he held a call with donors to “rally support” for Harris’s campaign in the days after the shuffle.
When it comes to the vice presidency, Buttigieg said he was flattered to even be considered, but he wasn’t paying attention to that right now.
“She’s going to make that decision, and she knows what she’s doing,” Buttigieg said in a July 26 Morning Joe interview on MSNBC. “What I know is that I’m really excited in whatever capacity to be part of this campaign.”
Josh Shapiro
Shapiro took in $72.6 million for his first term as governor, according to OpenSecrets data. Between runs for state representative, attorney general and governor, Shapiro has raised more than $90.6 million throughout his political career.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro raised more money for his 2022 campaign than any other candidate running in the state’s gubernatorial election in the last 20 years, breaking the previous record set in 2002 by nearly double.
While Shapiro hasn’t closed off the idea of being Harris’s vice president, he has declined to “engage in hypotheticals” or comment on the vetting process.
“The vice president has a very deeply personal decision to make right now: who she wants to run with, and who she wants to govern with,” Shapiro said on July 30. “I trust she will make that decision on her own terms when she is ready.”
Shapiro reportedly made the shortlist of people the Harris campaign sought vetting materials from, and ABC reported he’s one of two frontrunners for the position alongside Kelly.
Jared Polis
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has also pulled big contribution totals across his two gubernatorial campaigns, though they were largely self-funded.
Polis’ 2018 campaign raised $24.4 million and his 2022 campaign raised $13.2 million, setting fundraising records for Colorado’s governorship, though over 90% of each total was self-funded.
During his career in Congress, Polis raised another $12.5 million for bids to represent Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District from 2007 through the 2018 election cycle. Over his political career, Polis has managed to raise just short of $43.9 million, including self-funding, according to OpenSecrets data.
On his prospects for the vice presidency, Polis hasn’t declined interest, though he wasn’t sure he’d be called upon.
“Obviously, if somebody asked, I’d take a serious look at it, but my phone hasn’t rung yet,” Polis said to CNN’s Dana Bash. “If they do the polling and it turns out that they need a 49-year-old, balding, gay Jew from Boulder, Colorado, they got my number.”
Polis was not on the list as one of the five governors to field a request for vetting material from the Harris campaign.
Andy Beshear
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is a commanding fundraiser, setting a new record for the red-leaning state with his reelection in 2023. Beshear raised more than $23.1 million in the cycle, according to OpenSecrets data. Starting with his race for Kentucky Attorney General in 2015, Beshear has raised a combined $43.3 million over the life of his decade in state government.
When pressed on possibly taking the position of Harris’s running mate, Beshear wasn’t quick to shift focus from Harris, but said he wouldn’t be disinterested. Beshear confirmed to CNN he had not received a request for vetting materials.
“I’m honored to be considered in any process, but I’m mainly proud of what we’ve done in Kentucky that gets us on this stage,” Beshear said in a July 27 interview with Louisville TV station WHAS11.
Tim Walz
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz nearly doubled the prior record of donations received for the position with his second gubernatorial campaign, raising just shy of $11.6 million during the 2022 cycle, according to OpenSecrets data. Throughout his career, from state representative to the governorship, Walz has raised a combined total of over $24 million.
Walz was also on the list of governors to receive vetting materials from the Harris campaign, though he didn’t comment on the process.
“I think being mentioned is certainly an honor,” Walz said in a July 28 CNN interview. But he finished saying, “We’ll cross paths when we get there.”
Gina Raimondo
Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo set fundraising records with her two Rhode Island gubernatorial campaigns.
Raimondo took in $6.3 million for 2014 and $8.3 million for 2018, more than any other campaign for Rhode Island governor before or since. Over the life of her state political career, Raimondo raised just shy of $15.5 million before joining Biden’s cabinet in March of 2021.
Raimondo quickly endorsed Harris, though she’s chosen not to disclose her conversations on the matter of the vice presidency, and an OpenSecrets request for comment on her position was unanswered.
“It would be an honor to serve in that capacity, it would be an honor for anybody,” Raimondo said in a July 25 CBS interview.
Who’s likely out
As the list of possible running mates ebbs and flows, not everyone floated as a potential Biden replacement is up for the vice presidency. Some are disinterested, while others may not be able to easily join the ticket.
Gavin Newsom
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is not expected to be Harris’ vice presidential pick because of the 12th Amendment. While the likelihood that it would be challenged in court is debated, the amendment text states that when a president and vice presidential candidate hail from the same state, that state’s delegates are prohibited from voting for them.
The constitutional amendment requires electors to “vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.”
While this rule doesn’t make a Harris-Newsom ticket impossible, the duo would either need to be able to pick up the 54 delegates they’d likely receive from California elsewhere, or Harris would need to establish residency in another state to avoid any challenge on the rule. The latter was done during the 2000 presidential election as both George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were Texas residents. Cheney switched his residency back to Wyoming, the state he represented in Congress, just four days before he was selected as Bush’s running mate.
While Newsom was on the shortlist of possible Biden replacements, he did not throw his hat into the ring after the president suspended his campaign. Instead, Newsom thanked the president for his service and record in a post on X (formerly Twitter), and shortly after endorsed Harris for the presidency. He has not publicly commented on whether he’d accept the position as Harris’s vice president.
Roy Cooper
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper set fundraising records with over $40.3 million donated to his 2020 reelection campaign, the most ever raised by a gubernatorial candidate in the state. Through his nearly four-decade career in state politics, Cooper has raised more than $71.6 million across campaigns for North Carolina General Assembly, attorney general and governor dating back to at least 1996, the earliest data available to OpenSecrets.
Cooper, one of the governors who reportedly received vetting materials, has since taken himself out of the running for the vice presidency. In a statement posted to X, Cooper said it was an honor to be considered, but it wasn’t the “right time for North Carolina.”
Gretchen Whitmer
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has emphatically declined the possibility of running for the vice presidency, saying she’s “not leaving Michigan.”
“I’m proud to be the governor of Michigan,” Whitmer told reporters in the state’s capitol. “I’ve been consistent. I know everyone is always suspicious and asking this question over and over again. I know you’re doing your job — I’m not going anywhere.”
Whitmer, one of the names floated as a possible Biden replacement, was reportedly one of the governors the Harris campaign sought vetting materials for, even after her July 22 pass on the position. She’s also the only governor on this list to not set a fundraising record with either of her gubernatorial campaigns, being outraised by Dick DeVos’s 2006 campaign. In her nearly 25-year political career, Whitmer has raised just shy of $51.9 million.
Dean Phillips
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) has endorsed Harris for president, though he also pitched a “mini primary” for potential candidates to make their cases in front of the nation. While he challenged Biden for the 2024 Democratic nomination, he said he wasn’t interested in restarting his campaign and has “fulfilled my duty.”
When asked by Scripps News who he thinks would be the best vice presidential pick, Phillips did not include his own name, instead listing Beshear, Cooper and Shapiro. He also said he thinks a unity ticket pairing Harris with a Republican candidate would “serve this nation extraordinarily well,” though he said he does not see that happening.
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