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The stories that matter on money and politics in the race for the White House
Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, Arizona senator Mark Kelly and Roy Cooper of North Carolina are the frontrunners to become Kamala Harris’s running mate, according to Democratic mega donors close to the vice-president.
The three men had won backing from leading Wall Street and Hollywood donors and were now being vetted by Barack Obama’s former attorney-general Eric Holder, said the people.
Wall Street supporters favour Pennsylvania governor Shapiro or North Carolina governor Cooper, while Hollywood Democratic donors are pushing for Kelly, according to people familiar with the process.
Other names further down on the list include Kentucky governor Andy Beshear and Illinois governor JB Pritzker.
The vice-presidential vetting process comes after a whirlwind two-day period in which Joe Biden announced his exit from the presidential race, anointing Harris as his successor, following a disastrous debate performance last month.
In her first full day of campaigning on Monday, the vice-president accumulated enough delegates to secure the nomination and broke fundraising records.
Biden said on Tuesday he would address the nation from the Oval Office the next day on “what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people”.
The three Democrats at the top of the donors’ list as potential vice-presidential candidates have personal ties to Harris. Cooper and Harris were state attorneys-general at the same time, and they campaigned together in North Carolina in recent weeks, before Biden withdrew.
Shapiro, another former state attorney, has known Harris for almost two decades. Harris is also close to Kelly, a war veteran and former Nasa pilot, and his wife Gabby Giffords, the former Arizona representative who survived an assassination attempt in 2011.
Democratic governors Tim Walz of Minnesota and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan also remain on the long list, according to people familiar with the vetting process. Whitmer was an early donor favourite to replace Biden, but said this week she did not intend to leave her current job as governor.
“I’d be enthusiastic about any of them, particularly Shapiro, Kelly, Cooper, Pritzker or Beshear,” said Michael Kempner, a major Democratic donor in New York. “She has a strong field to pick from.”
Harris’s sudden emergence has electrified donors, with the vice-president saying she raised more than $100mn in the first 24 hours of her campaign — about $30mn more than Biden raised in the first two months of his.
A senior aide at Future Forward claimed that the Democratic super Pac, another group supporting Harris, secured commitments of $150mn from donors in the 24 hours after Biden endorsed Harris. The group previously raised more than $130mn through June.
Shapiro is favoured by many Wall Street donors who are convinced that the 51-year-old governor from Pennsylvania could play a crucial role in helping Harris win a swing state that could decide the White House race this year.
“Shapiro is young and energetic and can win Pennsylvania — he’s an obvious pick,” said a donor close to Harris. “It’s not a done deal but he is very much being considered.”
Kelly is also favoured by many top Democratic donors in Hollywood and Wall Street who admire his personal back-story as a Nasa astronaut as well his popularity in Arizona, another swing state.
“I’d like to see Sen Mark Kelly as VP candidate,” said former US ambassador to Spain Alan Solomont, who co-hosted a $2mn fundraiser for Harris in Massachusetts on Saturday. “He and his wife, Gabby Giffords, know as much as anyone about political violence, and their leadership on gun safety will appeal to young voters.”
Several donors have raised concerns that Shapiro does not have sufficient experience in government. Kelly would also have to surrender his US Senate seat to become vice-president, which could cost Democrats a crucial seat they need for hold their majority in the chamber.