Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be on track to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee in coming weeks, but speculation over who her running mate could be is ramping up.
One of the candidates floated as a possibility for a spot on the 2024 ticket has been Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, but according to at least one new report, he may not be among the top contenders for the position.
That report from MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin says the Harris campaign has requested vetting materials for five candidates for the VP nomination, but Pritzker was not among those candidates.
Pritzker confirmed on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Tuesday that he has not received vetting materials from the campaign, but another report from NBC News indicated that both he and former Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond, who has served as a co-chair on the Biden-Harris campaign, are still being considered.
With President Joe Biden no longer running for re-election, the presidential campaign looks far different on Monday.Vice President Kamala Harris was out campaigning while Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee, JD Vance, held his first solo campaign event.
When asked whether he would be interested in the vice-presidential spot on the ticket, Pritzker didn’t explicitly rule out interest, focusing instead on the work he’s been doing to help Democrats get elected nationwide.
“I love being the governor of the state of Illinois, and I’ve been out on the campaign trail fighting hard for Democrats to win,” he said. “I was in Indiana and Ohio last week, and I’ll be in Tennessee and Arizona. I started an organization called Think Big America that’s fighting for reproductive rights. We did it in Ohio, we’re doing it in Arizona, Nevada. It’s important to me that we win across the board and all across the United States. I’m gong to continue to do that, and I’m very interested in making sure that Kamala Harris becomes the next president of the United States.”
The list of potential candidates from MSNBC did include Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. She is currently in her second term as Michigan’s governor, having defeated Tudor Dixon by nearly half-a-million votes in the 2022 election.
In addition to Whitmer, another battleground governor is also on that shortlist, as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is getting some scrutiny as a potential candidate. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper were also on the list of candidates.
Finally, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly was said to be among the five candidates who had materials requested by the Harris campaign.
Kelly is a retired astronaut and United States Navy captain, and is in his first term as a senator from a battleground state in Arizona. He captured his seat in a special election after defeating Republican Martha McSally, who was appointed to the Senate after the death of Sen. John McCain.
Kelly is extremely popular in his home state, and has repeatedly been floated as a future presidential candidate since emerging on the political scene.
It is expected that Harris will be named the party’s nominee during a virtual roll call in early August, approximately two weeks before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. It is unclear whether the running mate spot on the ticket will also be filled during that call.