Yes, this is my logic as well. Trump doubled down on nazism with Vance as his pick, and some here called that clever.* Well, if we double down on the X chromosome (er, double double), then isn’t that the same kind of cleverness? It sure as hell will make the fascists’ heads explode!
*While despising Vance as a person, which one must.
This is a good point.
Delivering Michigan is obviously a big plus. It now looks like Pennsylvania is more the tipping point, but even a pro-polling guy like me has to admit that probably is granting too much credence to small polling differences.
If I was to make a case against two women – it is because what it says about priorities. Swing voters want the priority to be the economy. They think – against all evidence – that if the President somehow prioritizes the economy, it will be better. Two women makes it sound like the priority was given to feminism or, as Trump will put it, pleasing the left.
Andy Beshear is a good prioritizing-the-economy pick.
Andy Beshear has done an almost flawless job as Governor, and from all accounts (my own included) he seems to be a genuinely nice guy. I don’t know if he works as a VP candidate, though.
Nationally he’s going to come off as boring. He brings more “deadpan dad” energy than anything, which he used to great effect in his daily briefings during the pandemic. (“Govern me, daddy” was a popular meme.) I think the larger media machine will find that dull and chew him up. Maybe I’m wrong and he would charm the rest of the country the way he has Kentucky, but I doubt it.
He also does nothing to put a state into play. You could put the resurrected Colonel Sanders and Adolph Rupp on the ticket and Trump would still win Kentucky.
For whoever said he was term limited, he is, but he was just reelected past year and he’s in office until 2028. If he goes we’ll have a special election (not sure when, exactly) and with the possible exception of Rocky Adkins there’s not another Dem who can win statewide right now.
Selfishly, I want him to hang on until 2026 and run for McConnell’s seat while the KDP raises up some candidates to take his place as Governor.
Beshear would be a fantastic counterpoint to Vance and his condescending Hillbilly Elegy
I know that the KY economy is doing pretty good, but what specifically has he done that will translate to that message across the country?
I think she will go with him mainly because she has already signaled her want to be a uniter. The symbol of a red state governor can be followed up with explicit statements. Trump was doing well as Biden lost some enthusiasm from Black and Hispanic voters; she would be avoiding the HRC disrespect of rural whites. We cede no demographic. Rural and non-college educated whites get shown that they are not dismissed as deplorables, but that they have real concerns. I’d make that a rural healthcare focus myself and remind voters how access there collapsed under Trump, how current systems are supporting it illustrating it with Beshear’s actions in KY.
I suspect that can help in both MI and PA. You don’t win the demographic but maybe lose them by less.
Okay, we can’t afford to lose a governor right now. That’s really critical.
I would love Cory Brooker as well, but am I right he made a super anti-gun message that seemed to disqualify him?
Note: I am super anti-gun in general, but you have to be moderate in this nation.
I don’t understand the idea that stuff that works with Trump and Republican would work with Democrats. We all know that Dems care about hypocrisy even if the right doesn’t.
Plus it’s not like Trump’s inconsistencies aren hurting him. I’ve seen a whole contingent of pro-lifers who say they can no longer vote for Trump, for example.
I definitely think the Gaza issue is relevant, even if I still think most who oppose Biden on this issue are overstating his Israel support. Pulling in someone with pro-Palestinian credentials would be good, and avoiding anyone with any Zionist connection would still improve things.
A very pro-Palestinian Jewish person might work, but not any who have even said they support Israel. That alone is too much with this crowd, even if you, like Biden, actually are fighting against Israel’s current tactics.
Some talking points.
Trump’s desire to appeal the ACA is a loser issue for them. Attack there with a rural focus.
Could you explain why? I had to look up who he even was.
I summarize the suggested so far into a table. A few were mentioned, but then disqualified by the poster that mentioned them. So not included. One was just a name. But I did include them.
| Name | Current | State | Age | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pete Buttigieg | Secretary | Transportation | 42 | Naval Officer, Mayor of South Bend, Indiana |
| Tim Kaine | Senator | Virginia | 66 | Former Governor of Virginia |
| Gretchen Whitmer | Governor | Michigan | 52 | 2019 became Governor |
| Josh Shapiro | Governor | Penn | 51 | 2023 became Governor |
| Mark Kelly | Senator | Arizona | 60 | Astronaut, Combat Missions, husband of a survivor of an assassination attempt, Dem Gov would choose his replacement |
| Tim Ryan | NA | Ohio | 51 | 2003-2023 Congressman |
| Jeff Jackson | Congress | North Carolina | 41 | US Army Major, still Army Reserve. |
| Roy Cooper | Governor | North Carolina | 67 | Former NC Attorney General |
| Doug Jones | NA | Alabama | 70 | Former US Senator 2018 to 2021 |
| Gavin Newsom | Governor | California | 56 | |
| Andy Beshear | Governor | Kentucky | 46 | |
| Sherrod Brown | Senator | Ohio | 71 | He’s extremely pro-worker, pro-union, white middle American dude |
| Jared Moskowitz | Congress | Florida | 43 | |
| Bernie Sanders | Senator | Vermont | 82 | Progressive Flag Bearer, Socialist |
| Raphael Warnock | Senator | Georgia | 54 | He’s a Pastor, |
| Jamie Raski | Congress | Maryland | 61 | |
| Steve Bullock | Governor | Montana | 58 | True moderate who was able to pull some rural counties over to his side |
Jim Clyburn offers 3 running mate picks for Kamala
Shapiro
Beshear
Cooper
What about Tim Walz, Gov of Minnesota? I don’t know much of anything about him, but he is the Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. Anyone have an impression of him?
Governor Walz (below) is only 6 1/2 months older than Kamala Harris … but could pass for his mid-70s. It’s hard not to think that’s not part of the deep-brain thinking keeping Walz from even being considered a possibility.
As far as losing a Democratic governorship, Minnesota would be a safer proposition than Kentucky. No Republican gubernatorial candidate has gotten more than 47% of the popular vote in Minnesota since 1994. Walz’s two opponents were at 42.4% (2018) and 44.6% (2022).
I’m out on some of these VP selections because they are too lacking in experience.
I’m not a big fan of Harris, but she’s better than Trump. But if she’s the nominee, we need someone with more gravitas. Harris served less than one term in the Senate. Coupling that with Buttigieg for example, who was the mayor of the 316th largest city of the Unted States clocking in at just over 100,000 people is just too light in experience for me.
I think VP does count as experience, serious experience. Though it has varied over the years and the President.
Secretary of Transportation, probably not so much.
Raskin would be fantastic. He was on the January 6th Committee, and one of the Impeachment managers for the second Trump Impeachment. He’s is very capable and articulate when explaining what Trump has done and why it matters. He is a Constitutional Law professor, and a popular House member. He’d wipe the floor with JD Vance.
I appreciated that you at least brought up Edwards’ name. While he hasn’t expressed any national ambitions to date, he would be a more-than-capable federal executive that could credibly govern from the middle. His position on abortion is similar to Biden’s – personal abhorrence, yet feels government should leave the decision at the personal level.
Out of curiosity: if you were looking to gamble on it, who’s the current odds-on favorite?
A great deal of GOP strength comes from convincing poor white people that the Democrats don’t care about them enough, or at all. With a POC woman from California at the top of the ticket they need someone whose record clearly demolishes that narrative. That’s why I like Beshear. And also for quotes like this about Vance:
"The nerve that he has to call the people of Kentucky, of Eastern Kentucky, ‘lazy,’ " Beshear continued. “Listen, these are the hardworking coal miners that powered the Industrial Revolution, that created the strongest middle class the world has ever seen, that powered us through two world wars. We should be thanking them. Not calling them lazy.”