California Sen. Kamala Harris is seen as the frontrunner for Joe Biden’s vice presidential nominee, The Hill reported on Saturday.
According to multiple individuals close to Biden’s campaign, Harris is considered to be the safe choice.
“Their politics are very similar. I would be surprised if it wasn’t her. I’d be shocked if it was anyone else. You’re getting to the degrees of risk after that,” a longtime Biden confidant said.
The Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee has vowed to pick a woman as his running mate, and he has been under pressure to select a woman of color.
As Democratic strategist Joel Payne explained, Biden’s team may not want to take any chances.
“He’s going to take less of a chance because the polls look so good and political observers would say the race has tilted toward Biden. There are no surprises with Kamala. You know what you’re going to get out of her. No one will be shocked that Kamala Harris is the choice.”
It indeed seems that the presidential race is tilted toward Biden. In the RealClearPolitics average of polling data, President Donald Trump is trailing him by 8 percentage points nationwide.
Trump is also lagging behind in key battleground states. A Quinnipiac University survey released earlier this week found that 51 percent of Floridians support the former vice president, while 36 percent of them support Trump.
Still, some believe that Harris may not be the safest pick.
According to strategist Christy Setzer, a moderate running mate would not necessarily be the safe choice.
“Our base isn’t centrist; they’re progressive, and he needs to choose someone who excites them,” Setzer said.
Biden — who has struggled to woo progressive Democrats — has also been pressured to select a left-leaning running mate.
Earlier this week, California delegates who supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic Party’s presidential primaries called on Biden to select Rep. Karen Bass, who leads the Congressional Black Caucus.
Harris’ law enforcement background could be another potential issue for Team Biden. As Bloomberg reported, some operatives believe that Harris — who served as district attorney of San Francisco and California attorney general — would be a risky pick amid the Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts are also being vetted by Biden’s team.
The former vice president has made it clear that his veep needs to be an experienced politician ready to lead the nation on day one.
