Arizona expert explains why Mark Kelly would be strong running mate for Kamala Harris
Jul 24, 2024, 11:08 AM | Updated: 2:08 pm
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, seen riding the Senate subway on July 23, 2024, in Washington, D.C., is considered a potential running mate for Kamala Harris. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
(Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
PHOENIX – Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona would be an ideal running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris as she seeks the presidency, according to a Valley political expert.
“Mark Kelly would actually be a perfect balance to that ticket. I think he brings what Kamala Harris does not have, and that’s a certain moderation,” Stan Barnes, founder and president of Copper State Consulting Group, told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Wednesday.
Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid on Sunday and passed the baton to his vice president.
That triggered speculation about a vice presidential candidate, with Kelly joining three governors — Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, Kentucky’s Andy Beshear and North Carolina’s Roy Cooper – as the consensus leading options.
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Why is Mark Kelly considered a potential running mate for Kamala Harris?
Barnes said he expects Republican nominee Donald Trump and his supporters to paint Harris as a liberal extremist, a charge Kelly could mitigate if he were on the ticket.
“Mark Kelly is the opposite of that,” Barnes said. “He is an accomplished superstar in his personal life and is temperate in tone, in policy.”
The fact that Arizona is one of the few battleground states expected to decide the election also adds to the former Navy pilot and astronaut’s allure as a running mate for Harris.
“That swing state thing is in play. A Democrat’s got to win Arizona, and he could help them,” Barnes said.
Does candidate change improve Democrats’ chances in Arizona?
Delegates can make Harris the official nominee — and even start approving her yet-to be-named running mate — in online voting beginning next week under a proposal passed Wednesday by the Democratic National Convention rules committee. The convention will be held Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.
Barnes, however, doesn’t think the switch to Harris at the top of the ticket itself improves Democratic chances in the Grand Canyon State.
“I don’t think she does any better in Arizona than Joe Biden would have done,” he said.
Barnes said Biden at least could lean on his longtime friendship with the late Sen. John McCain, an old-guard Republican icon in Arizona, along with his record as a senator and president.
“Kamala Harris doesn’t bring any of that,” he said. “She brings California, and that’s not exactly the way you win elections in Arizona.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
