Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has asked for vetting materials from a number of potential VP picks this week — with one notable exception.
Harris has requested materials from veep candidates including Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, according to Wall Street Journal reporter Ken Thomas.
But Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear — who was featured on several preliminary lists of Harris’ potential running mates — told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that he had not been asked to submit anything to the Harris camp.
Beshear said Harris personally called him just hours after President Biden announced he was stepping off the ticket — but added that he would only consider the VP job if he felt he could help the people of Kentucky in that position.
“The only reason I’d ever consider something else is if I felt that I could help my people in Kentucky more in a different role or that there was a chance to move past the partisanship, the constant fighting,” he explained.
Harris, 59, took the helm of her presidential campaign over the weekend following Biden’s bombshell announcement that he would not seek re-election in November.
An Associated Press tally this week found that the former senator was backed by at least 2,214 delegates — well over the 1,976 delegates she needs to secure the Democratic Party nomination.
“I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party’s nominee, and as a daughter of California, I am proud that my home state’s delegation helped put our campaign over the top,” Harris said Monday night.
Harris raised $81 million in campaign contributions from more than 888,000 donors in the first 24 hours after Biden endorsed her run, her campaign said.
She is still waiting for a stamp of approval from other heavyweight Dems, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).