Vice President Kamala Harris is facing the most significant decision of her quarter-century political career: choosing her running mate for the Democratic Party’s national election.
Her decision is expected to be announced in the next few hours, ahead of the first rally that Harris and her running mate plan to hold in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.
This comes at a crucial moment for Harris, two weeks after she replaced President Biden as the leading Democratic candidate for the 2024 presidential election.
Vetting, selecting and interviewing a vice presidential candidate typically takes several months, but these are far from normal times for Democrats, and Harris faces an extremely demanding timeline.
Trump’s running mate JD Vance has been shadowing Harris on the campaign trail this week
Vice President Kamala Harris applauds the crowd during a campaign rally in Atlanta, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Harris was in the nation’s capital this weekend and met in person with three of the roughly six vice presidential candidates in the running: Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democratic source confirmed to Fox News.
Candidates include Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, according to sources.
Ahead of her meetings with the candidates, Harris was briefed by a vetting team led by former Attorney General Eric Holder.
Harris goes after Trump in fundraising surge
It’s unclear how the announcement will be made, but it’s likely to be via video introduction, similar to how Biden announced Harris as his running mate four years ago. But the Harris campaign’s plans could be upended on Monday or Tuesday if the announcement is leaked to the media.
It has been mostly smooth sailing for Harris since Biden’s much-talked-about announcement, amid growing calls from Democrats to give up on reelection after her disastrous debate performance with former President Trump in late June.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally in Atlanta, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
The party, eager to stop Republican presidential nominee Trump from returning to the White House, quickly rallied behind Harris. The vice president saw a surge in donations, raising more than double Trump’s fundraising in July, and volunteers flocked to Harris’s campaign office as she switched from Biden.
And the small but decisive lead Trump had built over Biden in the weeks following the late June debate was quickly erased when the latest national and key battleground state polls showed the race between Harris and the former president was within the margin of error.
But smooth sailing can turn into choppy seas.
While Harris and her team have remained largely silent about her vice presidential pick, the candidate’s allies have been advocating for him and interest groups within the party have also increasingly voiced their own preferences.
2024 AD Wars: Trump competes to select VP Harris
Harris’ announcement in the next few hours is likely to disappoint some supporters of candidates who were not named as the vice presidential nominee and could exacerbate the policy divide between the party’s moderate and progressive wings that has been on paper for the past two weeks.
Harris and her running mate will hold a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday as they kick off an ambitious, jam-packed tour of seven battleground states that are likely to decide the outcome of the presidential election: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.
The vice president held his first large rally since succeeding Biden on the Democratic nomination list last week at the Georgia State Convention Center in Atlanta, drawing more than 10,000 people.
“It’s the first time in this race that a Democratic candidate has drawn crowds comparable to the large audiences that Trump has regularly drawn during his more than 18 months of campaigning to return to the White House. The size and energy of the crowds that Harris draws during her tour of battleground states this week will be closely watched.
Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, held a rally at the same venue in Atlanta on Saturday, where the former president continued his relentless attacks and insults against Harris.
In social media posts and at a rally early Saturday, Trump accused Harris of having a “low IQ” and being “stupid” and lacking “mental capacity.”
Former President Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Georgia State University in Atlanta on Saturday, August 3, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Harris’ campaign fired back Sunday morning, claiming that Trump is “weak…struggling…panic…Donald Trump is running scared.”
Harris has yet to give any major interviews since succeeding Biden, prompting criticism from the Trump campaign.
“Kamala Harris is too afraid to answer questions from the media to lead us through these difficult times,” Vance charged in a social media post on Monday.
Click here to get the FOX News app
Vance is expected to shadow Harris as part of the Trump campaign’s plans to accompany her and her running mate on a tour of battleground states.
A source familiar with the Senate political situation confirmed to Fox News that Vance will visit Philadelphia on Tuesday, the day the vice president begins his campaign.
Sen. J.D. Vance speaks during a campaign rally at Georgia State University, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Harris will officially clinch the party’s presidential nomination this week when the Democratic National Committee’s virtual roll call concludes at 6pm ET, but it will be a less dramatic development as only the vice president qualified for the roll call.
Roll call began on Thursday, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison announced Friday that Harris had won the nomination with a majority of the delegate votes at the party’s nominating convention, which begins in Chicago in two weeks.
While the past two weeks have gone better than many expected, Harris’ campaign is well aware that there are still three months until the November election.
“It is the Harris campaign’s job to translate the unprecedented energy behind the vice president into action,” said Dan Kanninen, battleground states director.
Get the latest 2024 campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
