Harris to hold Philadelphia rally with vice president pick Tuesday

By Jarrett Renshaw and Nandita Bose

(Reuters) -Vice President Kamala Harris will hold her first rally with her new vice presidential nominee on Tuesday in Philadelphia, sources say.

The location suggests Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has moved to the top of a short list of running mates, and that the Harris campaign had decided the state that Democrats won back from Republicans in 2020 is a must-win once again.

A campaign aide told Reuters on Tuesday not to read too much into the choice of the first city of a weeklong battleground state tour. The tour will take four days and cover multiple states, the aide said.

The high-stakes decision on who will run with Harris has taken center stage since she became the Democratic frontrunner for the Nov. 5 election when U.S. President Joe Biden ended his White House bid just over a week ago.

Harris is expected to announce the decision as soon as Monday, ahead of Tuesday’s event, the sources said.

The short list of candidates under consideration include Shapiro, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

If Shapiro is the pick, the Harris campaign is likely counting on the popular, 51-year-old governor to help win the state in November.

Shapiro’s stock among Democrats rose after he swamped his Republican opponent for governor, Doug Mastriano, winning 56 percent of the vote in a state known for tight elections.

Shapiro would also become the second Jewish nominee for vice president on a major ticket in U.S. history, following Joe Lieberman’s failed 2000 bid with Al Gore.

A handful of U.S. states, often called battlegrounds, have decided the presidential election in recent years, including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Typically, campaigns begin thinking about their vice-presidential pick after the primary race ends in the spring, giving them months to vet candidates and make a decision on who the candidate meshes with best personally and politically.

Harris is being forced to select her running mate on a highly compressed timeline. She faces an Aug. 7 deadline set by the Democratic National Committee, but the decision is likely to come sooner, according to the sources.

Eric Holder Jr., the former attorney general who led the vice-presidential vetting process for Barack Obama in 2008, is vetting Harris’ picks through his law firm, Covington & Burling.

The candidates are informally auditioning for the job, hitting the airwaves and campaign stops to showcase what they would bring to the Harris ticket.

Shapiro, for example, delivered a rousing testimonial about Harris in the Philadelphia suburbs on Monday.

“She’s not only ready, she’s damned ready,” he said to a cheering crowd. “And you know who else knows she’s ready? Donald Trump knows she’s ready.”

Walz, the governor of Minnesota, is credited with pushing the Democrats’ new criticism of Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance – that they are “weird.”

“The fascists depend on us going back, but we’re not afraid of weird people,” Walz said on Saturday of the Republican ticket. “We’re a little bit creeped out, but we’re not afraid.”