Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said Sunday that his mission is now to “serve the people of Arizona” and deleted a post on X that had further fueled speculation about Harris’ running mate choice.
Kelly, who was on the shortlist to be Harris’ running mate, made a statement on X-TV on Sunday suggesting he was not ultimately chosen as Harris’ running mate.
“My background is a little different than most politicians. I served in the Navy and NASA and always put the mission first. Now my mission is to serve the people of Arizona,” Kelly said. What I originally wrote.
Less than an hour later, Kelly deleted the post. And replaced it “Whether it was during my time in the Navy or NASA, serving in the United States Senate, or visiting our troops overseas, I have learned that when our country calls to serve, we should always answer the call,” the post read.
The second post generated hundreds of replies, many of which sought to pressure the Arizona Democrat about Harris’ status as “vice presidential candidate.”
“Seriously!! It’s you! Mark Kelly been picked for VP?” one user wrote, while another went as far as to say, “Looks like Mark Kelly has been picked for VP.”
Kerry spokesman Jacob Peters denied the speculation and urged users not to read too much into the senator’s comments.
“When an Arizona senator tweets that he’s an Arizona senator it doesn’t make the news! Let’s all go back to Sunday!” Peters wrote to X. Sunday.
Kelly is one of a few rising stars in the Democratic Party who emerged as a possible running mate for Harris after President Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Kelly as his successor.
Harris, who officially became the Democratic presidential front-runner last week, was on a tight schedule to quickly choose a running mate, having interviewed several potential VP candidates over the weekend at her home at the Naval Observatory in Washington.
Also on the list of candidates are Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who were both interviewed on Sunday along with Kelly. Reuters reported.
Harris is expected to announce her running mate by Tuesday, after which she will begin a four-day, seven-state campaign tour with her nominee.
The Hill has reached out to the Harris campaign for further comment.
