Senator Kelly as VP stops the border issue, helping Harris in the Sun Belt.
Sarah Ferris et al, Ursula Perano, Adam Cancryn and Anthony Adragna, 7-28-2024, [Sarah Ferris is a senior reporter for POLITICO’s ace Congress team, focused on House leadership, Ursula Perano is a congressional reporter focused on the Senate. Adam Cancryn is a White House correspondent for POLITICO, with a focus on health, the economy and other domestic priorities, Anthony Adragna is a congressional reporter with POLITICO. "Hill Dems believe this VP contender would help address Harris’ biggest weakness", POLITICO, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/28/dems-push-mark-kelly-vp-00171422, accessed 7/28/24, S.A.M.]
A growing number of House Democrats are telling Kamala Harris that she should pick Sen. Mark Kelly as her vice president, believing he would offset her biggest current weakness: the border. Kelly — a former Navy pivot, astronaut and now a senator from Arizona — has pushed the Biden administration to take a tougher position on border security and aligned more closely with other border-state Democrats, some of whom have either withheld endorsements for Harris’ presidential bid or openly condemned her handling of the border. Three such Democrats — Reps. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and Lou Correa (D-Calif.) — are all publicly pushing for Kelly. Shortly after voting for a bill that denounced Harris’ handling of the border, Cuellar said Kelly was Harris’ best potential pick for a no. 2, saying he “knows the border well.” “He would add a lot of value,” Gonzalez echoed, gushing about Kelly’s military background and his clear grasp of border issues. Kelly, along with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, are Hill Democrats’ two top picks to join Harris on the ticket, according to interviews with 30 Democratic lawmakers and senior aides. They both have won multiple elections in swing states, and lawmakers believe they have the most to offer in helping the party beat Donald Trump. Still, while there’s a sense that Shapiro would bring executive experience to the ticket that Harris lacks, others — including in Harris’ own orbit — think Kelly would be critical to addressing Harris’ weakness on immigration. Hailing from a battleground and border state, Kelly backs improved security and voted in favor of the Senate’s bipartisan border deal earlier this year. Five days before President Joe Biden withdrew his candidacy, Kelly was in Mexico City meeting with that nation’s president and pushed him on security and management of their shared border. Correa, who had joined Kelly on the trip, recalled thinking of the Arizona senator: “Wow, man, this guy knows what he’s talking about.”