Who will Harris choose as VP nominee? Several team members of The Advocate make their predictions

Vice President Kamala Harris's announcement on who will be her vice presidential pick is imminent. Members of The Advocate took some time to make their educated guesses on who it might be. Harris reportedly spent the weekend interviewing potential picks, and her campaign said that she and her pick will begin campaigning on Tuesday. So who do we think it could be? Keep reading to find out.

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John Casey: I’m going to start by saying something publicly that we’ve been saying privately for the last few weeks, so I’m about to spill the tea to our readers…what a wild and crazy news cycle July proved to be. We could hardly keep up!

Well, I’m sure that’s not news to anyone, so perhaps we’ll offer some surprises as we look into our crystal balls, tarot cards, and astrology signs to predict who now confirmed Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris will choose as her running mate.

Harris has been VP for the last four years, so she is intimately familiar with the job, and as such makes the perfect judge as to who should succeed her if she wins the presidency. The only thing I can predict with 100 percent certainty is that it will not be someone like JD Vance. My God, what a catastrophe! If you haven’t read why he’s the worst thing since Sarah Palin, I penned a few words about it in a recent column.

The Democrats are lucky to have such a deep bench of terrific talent, so the decision for Harris is a tough one - in a good way. Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Witmer (she took herself out, but she’s part of the bench as is North Carolina Gov Roy Cooper), Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Kentucky Gov Andy Beshear, and Minnesota Gov Tim Walz are all accomplished and admirable.

Given all those talented politicians and leaders, it’s impossible to really be able to predict who will be selected since they would all be great partners to Harris.

That said, I’m going with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro if for no other reason than the fact that I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, and so I know that picking a Pennsylvanian is always the right thing to do. Personal feelings aside, Shapiro is the smartest one in the bunch. He’s closer to Harris than the others still in the running. He is wildly popular in Pennsylvania. He’s done great things for the state, which will help Harris win the state, as well as give a boost to down-ballot candidates.

And just as a aside, the last time Pennsylvania had a president or vice president on top of the ticket was James Buchanan who was our 15th president. It is about time Pennsylvania gets the recognition it deserves!

Shapiro is a former state attorney general like Harris, so he will be able to prosecute the case against Trump and Vance — and as such should do well debating the incoherent Vance. And just as an aside, he’s good-looking — much better-looking than Vance which will drive Trump crazy.

Finally, he married his high school sweetheart, and they have four children, so he’s definitely not a childless cat lady.

Christopher Wiggins: A friend on Facebook called me the group’s “political prophet” earlier, so take that for whatever it’s worth. While it would of course be an exceptional step forward for the country and for LGBTQ+ representation if Harris selected Buttigieg to be her running mate, I think it’s unlikely that the dream ticket that much of the LGBTQ+ community is trying to manifest will come to fruition. There’s an argument to be made for “why not” given that currently the choice is between Trumpism and autocracy and the opposite of that, regardless of who the Democratic ticket comprises. Maybe more people would vote to save the U.S. from dictatorship than those who wouldn’t vote for a gay man on the ticket. I completely understand why people would say, “then why not?” Buttigieg is one of the best communicators in politics. He has what it takes to be at the highest levels of government in the U.S. I think that he would make an exceptional secretary of state if he’s not the nominee; allowing him more time to win over America as a whole, so that one day he can be Mr. President.

Just like Buttigieg would disarm Vance’s military service, since he also served, I think that Kelly’s long career as a Navy combat pilot and subsequent role as an astronaut earn him tons of respect as far as service to his country. His wife, former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords was shot in the head during an assassination attempt, so he has credibility when it comes to the gun debate. He’s clearly good under pressure, which is paramount as a vice president.

But, I too think it’s going to be Shapiro. Mostly, I think that some of the clues around his schedule and Harris’s campaign schedule hint in that direction. From what I understand, Shapiro has canceled a few fundraising events in the Hamptons that he had on the schedule for this weekend, according toThe New York Times. Also, Tuesday’s big campaign rally to introduce Harris’s running mate to a crowd is in Pennsylvania. He’s an accomplished former attorney general; he has proven that he can win Pennsylvanians’ votes, and he’s a great communicator — have you seen his social media game?

JC: Well, my choice of Shapiro being validated by my esteemed colleague Christopher, gives me hope. Now let’s see if anyone has a different opinion.

Ryan Adamczeski: Whoever Harris’ VP pick is, it’s going to be a white man. I’m not the first to say it — and while I think it’s ridiculous — I don’t believe voters would go for two women, or two people of color (Shapiro, who is Jewish like Harris’ husband, is also out for this reason, as is Buttigieg for his sexuality). I think the Democratic Party will seek out a white man (maybe older and more moderate) to ease the minds of less progressive voters, as they did when Obama picked Biden as his VP. That leaves us with Cooper, who took himself out, and Beshear.

Now think about it this way: if that prediction comes true, that person will actually be a “DEI hire.” Despite conservatives saying Harris was “picked for her race and gender,” a white male VP candidate would quite literally be picked for his race and gender. Which, by the way, isn’t what DEI really is in practice. Though I do wonder if we’ll hear Trump complain about Democrats taking “Black jobs'' again after it’s announced.

Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit Advocate.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of The Advocate or our parent company, equalpride.