'I'd be surprised if it wasn't a white guy': Kamala Harris's VP pick likely to be white, male and not risky

As US Vice President Kamala Harris continues to build support for her days-old 2024 campaign, following President Joe Biden's withdrawal from the race over the weekend, speculation has grown over her who she will pick as her running mate.

A shortlist has emerged of potential contenders that her campaign has reportedly contacted for background evaluations. The consensus is that Harris, a Black and South Asian woman from northern California, should pick a white man from a rural state to balance out the ticket.

"I'd be surprised at this point if it wasn't a white guy. It would just bring balance to the ticket," J. Miles Coleman, associate editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, told The New Arab. He added that he wouldn't expect Harris to risk picking a mini version of herself ideologically, as he saw Trump do when he chose Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate.

It's unclear how much impact the vice presidential choice will have, if any. However, with the general election just weeks away, the Democrats have little room for error.

Several of these choices that reflect the white rural man demographic are being floated.

Roy Cooper, governor of North Carolina, a state that Donald Trump won in 2016 and 2020 and that Obama won in 2008 to John McCain, but lost to Mitt Romney in 2012, is said to be a donor favourite.

"Cooper would not surprise me. He's older, and he would not be any kind of threat," Richard Groper, a lecturer in political science at California State University in Los Angeles, told TNA. He noted that presidential candidates tend to prefer running mates who don't overshadow them.

Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania, is from a state that is crucial for Democrats to win. It had long been considered solidly blue until Trump won the state in 2016, when he shattered the blue wall of the industrial upper Midwest. Biden won back the state for Democrats in 2020, however it is still considered vulnerable.

J.B. Pritzker, governor of Illinois, is not from a swing state, but his position in the Midwest could be appealing to voters in nearby states with similar cultures.

Mark Kelly, a senator from Arizona, another swing state, has emerged as a possible contender. But geographically, he might not what the Democrats are looking for in terms of protecting their so-called blue wall in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Few of these men have much of a record on the Middle East, to speak of, though Shapiro has come under scrutiny for his hard line on pro-Palestinian demonstrators protesting Israel's war on Gaza. On Sunday, CNN correspondent John King faced criticism for describing Shapiro as a 'risky choice' due to his Jewish background.

Regardless of backgrounds, there is likely little difference in these men's positions or potential impact, given a long-entrenched system of sending unconditional aid to Israel despite its violations of international law as noted by the International Court of Justice last week. 

"I don't expect we'll see anything different coming out of the Democratic Party moving forward," Miriam Osman, a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement, told TNA.

"There are some demands where we hope to continue putting pressure: demanding a permanent ceasefire [in Gaza]. If they wanted to, they could. We don't see them doing that. The solutions are right there in front of us. We don't see people in either party committing to them," she said.

Other names that have been floated for Harris's VP pick are: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Depending on how long the process takes, other names could still emerge.