Vice President Kamala Harris has finished vetting her potential veep picks and is going to deliberate her options over the weekend before making an announcement early next week, a new report says.
The law firm Covington & Burling, which was tasked with vetting Harris’ candidates, turned over their materials to her camp Thursday, the New York Times said.
Harris has now scheduled meetings to go over her choices this weekend and will likely make the announcement before Tuesday evening, when she and her newly chosen running mate will take the stage in Philadelphia in their first stop on their multi-swing tour, the outlet said.
Harris, 59, has only men on her list, and most come from swing states that are critical for the 2024 election.
Harris sent out vetting materials to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
The first three are believed to be the frontrunners. The VP’s office has not revealed any clues as to who she is highly considering, but Shapiro and Beshear have both canceled events this weekend as the veepstakes continues.
Harris had to make her VP choice quickly — in just about two weeks.
President Biden dropped out of the race July 21, and the Democratic National Committee then quickly voted for Harris through a virtual roll call to avoid state ballot legal battles. Harris now has to make up her mind on her veep by Aug. 7 to get them both on the November ballot.
The two-week Dem veep vetting process was “intrusive” and “extensive” and included video calls with top lawyers, according to the NYT. The process is intended to root out any potential personal information that could come back to haunt the campaign.
One close Harris associate told the Times she will be looking for someone she can get along with well.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to come down to who can she have a relationship with, who can have the hard conversations with her,” said Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), who has known Harris for over a decade and was a senior adviser on her 2020 campaign.
“This is somebody she’s going to have to see on a fairly regular basis for the next four years,” he told the outlet. “And you got to do more than just tolerate them. There has to be some genuine like and care and a good vibe.”
The Harris campaign did not respond to an inquiry from The Post on Friday.
