Harris nears vice presidential announcement as her team tests out top contenders

By MJ Lee, Jeff Zeleny, Kayla Tausche and Pamela Brown, CNN

(CNN) — Kamala Harris is in the thick of choosing a vice presidential running mate, with her campaign eying an announcement in the coming days that would be immediately followed by a joint tour of a series of battleground states beginning next Tuesday.

Harris, abruptly thrust into the role of presidential candidate fewer than 10 days ago, has been studying notebooks filled with information about each of the top vice presidential contenders, has had preliminary conversations with some of those candidates, and has been asking close advisers involved in the process who would make the strongest governing partner for her at the White House, sources familiar with the process said.

Harris has not yet conducted formal interviews with the top contenders, one source familiar told CNN. That process is expected to begin this week.

Meanwhile, her team – working on an extraordinarily condensed timeline in the aftermath of President Joe Biden abruptly abandoning his reelection campaign just a little over three months out from Election Day – has been swiftly researching and testing out the top candidates, including by studying videos of those being vetted.

The top contenders include Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has taken himself out of the running and declined the campaign’s request to be vetted, CNN reported Monday. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear are also still in conversation, but people close to the process believe they are not top contenders.

The vice president’s choice will be revealed by Tuesday, when she and her running mate will kick off the battleground state blitz beginning with their first joint rally in Philadelphia, according to a campaign official. The pair will then travel to western Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.

Eric Holder, the former attorney general, is leading a vetting team of a few dozen Democratic lawyers who are poring over financial records and family histories of the contenders. Tony West, a former associate attorney general and Harris’ brother-in-law, is also playing a leading advisory role in the search process.

As is typical in vice presidential searches, the Harris campaign has been intently focused on who could help strengthen the Harris ticket’s electoral chances. Polling has been conducted of how at least some candidates, particularly Shapiro and Kelly, could influence the race in battleground states.

The Harris campaign declined to comment for this story.

“She, better than anyone aside from a couple other people on earth, knows what the job of VP entails, for better and for worse,” a longtime Harris friend said. The vice president is looking for a partner who could “do the job that she currently holds, do it in a way that is additive and not distracting, and ideally helps shore up any weaknesses she has electorally right now because governing doesn’t matter if you don’t win,” the friend added.

In a memo at the outset of her candidacy, the Harris campaign argued it saw “multiple” pathways to 270 electoral votes across the so-called Blue Wall states, which include Shapiro’s Pennsylvania, and the Sun Belt, which includes Kelly’s Arizona.

But internally, campaign strategists have acknowledged that Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes could be make-or-break for the outcome.

“Pennsylvania is the tipping point,” one strategist close to the campaign told CNN. “Once you acknowledge that, it becomes pretty obvious who [Harris] should pick.”

On policy, selecting Shapiro, who is Jewish, is seen by some advisers as providing political cover for Harris on the Middle East, where she has spoken out more forcefully in recent days against the humanitarian suffering in Gaza than Biden, even as the two have pursued the same policy of assisting Israel in its military defense.

But as Shapiro has emerged as a top candidate for her running mate, the team is also examining his potential weak spots – including the resignation last year of Shapiro’s close top aide, Mike Vereb, amid a sexual harassment investigation. The governor’s administration paid nearly $300,000 to settle the claims, but Shapiro has not been implicated.

“Although the Commonwealth does not comment on specific personnel matters, it takes allegations of discrimination and harassment seriously,” Manuel Bonder, spokesperson for Shapiro’s office, said in a statement, noting that “robust procedures are in place for thoroughly investigating reports of discrimination and harassment.”

While some Democrats have urged the campaign to reveal the running mate at the Democratic convention in Chicago, which opens August 19, Harris has expressed a desire to have a partner sooner. With about three months remaining in the race, advisers say, a vice presidential candidate is needed on the campaign trail as soon as Harris makes her decision.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

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