Vice President Kamala Harris is being encouraged by Democrats who have endorsed her to replace President Joe Biden at the top of the party's ticket for November's election to choose a running mate from a battleground state.
"Having someone not from a coast who has run an agency or run a state or been a mayor would be a nice balance," a Democratic operative told The Hill on Monday.
Multiple Democrats pointed to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who is term-limited and not running for reelection, as someone who could boost the ticket. They noted that former President Donald Trump won North Carolina by just 74,483 votes in 2020. In 2016, Trump won the state by 173,315 votes.
"If I could picture the VP, it would look a lot like Cooper," a House Democrat told The Hill. "He's basically out of central casting."
Cooper said during a TV interview Monday that he spoke on the phone with Harris on Sunday, according to The Hill. He said the conversation focused on "winning this race" but declined to talk specifics about being her running mate.
"I appreciate people talking about me," Cooper said, "but I think the focus right now needs to be on her this week."
Party strategists and lawmakers told The Hill that Harris might need to look for a candidate who can serve as a counterweight to a presidential nominee who hails from California, has a legal background, and is the first Black and Asian American woman in her position.
"That is the first presidential decision that Vice President Harris has, so she's got a lot of good choices ahead of her," Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, told reporters at the Capitol, according to The Hill. Schatz named a number of governors, including Cooper, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, along with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly as possible choices.
Buttigieg is the lone member of Biden's Cabinet who is said to be in consideration, and some believe he would fare well in a debate with the Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance. Kelly is a veteran and former astronaut, but his drawback is that if Harris wins in November, a special election would be needed to fill his vacated seat.
The House Democrat told The Hill that Shapiro has received "strong pushback" from progressive members because of policy positions that include school vouchers, and for his ardent support for Israel.
"He is the only one that I know for a fact progressives have privately talked about not wanting to see," the lawmaker said.
Whitmer, the lone woman in serious contention, told a reporter in her home state that she is "not leaving Michigan" and has no plans "to go anywhere," according to The Hill.