U.S. Vice-President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris will meet three finalists for her vice-presidential pick on Sunday, an aide confirmed, moving the selection process into its final phase.
Harris will make the announcement of her choice at a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
In these one-on-one conversations, Harris will take the measure of the personal chemistry with her would-be running mate—who if the ticket wins, she'll be stuck with for four years and another term if she is re-elected.
The other crucial question they must address in these meetings is if they are ready for a presidency in case of a vacancy. The other finalists include Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and Sen. Mark Kelly.
It's not clear if other high-profile individuals, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker or Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg have been invited.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper bowed out of contention last month.
Typically, presidential candidates take several months to pick a running mate, but Harris had to accelerate the process after being elevated to the top of the Democratic ticket on July 21, following President Joe Biden's decision to end his re-election bid and endorse her.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder and a team of lawyers have been working on the vetting of candidates -- digging through documents to whittle the list down. Holder met with Harris at her residence in the Naval Observatory Saturday to reveal his findings.
Harris has no scheduled rallies this weekend, staying out of the public eye as she wraps up her search and makes her crucial decision. Part of what has made Governor Walz so successful in Minnesota is his very approachable style and ties to trade unions. His past life as a school teacher and his serving in the House of Representatives for several terms help make him more relatable. Walz is notable for labeling Republican nominee Donald Trump and his campaign as "weird," which has picked up on an element of the Harris campaign and Democrats in general across the country.
Of the potential VP picks, Shapiro of Pennsylvania is likely to be a frontrunner based on a simple fact: his home state is very popular, and Harris needs it on her route to the presidency. Shapiro won that year's gubernatorial race by almost 15 percentage points, while Harris currently trails Trump in Pennsylvania by 2.7 percentage points per the RealClearPolitics polling average.
The other critical battleground state is represented by Senator Kelly of Arizona, who holds the key to Harris getting the 270 electoral votes she needs to be the first female president in American history. Only down 4 percentage points in Arizona to Trump, Kelly brings the unique credentials of a former fighter pilot and astronaut, and he is married to former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who retired from politics after surviving a 2011 assassination attempt.
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