Mark Kelly now heavy favorite to be Harris’ running mate as he blasts JD Vance on Ukraine
Harris campaign hasn’t formally announced pick for presumptive nominee’s running mate
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Arizona is not a solidly blue state, and Mark Kelly is unusually popular for a senator.
Arizona Democrats also don't have that deep of a bench to pull out a candidate that's a lock for a statewide race.
I'm not saying it's impossible for any Democrat to win the election for Mark Kelly's seat, I am saying it's a significant risk that they probably won't want to take.
And that's before taking into account that Arizona Democrats already have a handful with the seat being left open by their current manic pixie dream senator.
Kelly's seat would go to a Dem replacement. They wouldn't have to run for reelection until 2026 in a special election. The seat would be safe for at least 2 years out. Arguably a gamble worth taking to make sure we still have elections come 2026.
Assuming Harris wins, the first midterm federal election is usually ugly for the president's party, so it'd be a risk. Especially coming off of this election where dems will have to be extremely lucky just to hold onto the majority (even with the vp tiebreaker).
If Trump wins much of that is irrelevant by 2026 anyway though.
Of course, but I don't think that him as the VP candidate changes the odds of that much relative to the other contenders who don't come with that risk.
VP candidates don't usually matter much in an election unless they're freaks with a couch fetish or something weird like that.
As dumb and superficial as it sounds, my guess is a fighter pilot and astronaut plays better to swing state voters than governors of other states.