I’m in the Mark Kelly fan club m’self. The surprise ‘education’ i’ve got in return for that is variously returned as “east/west (coast) parity” (“whaaa…?” sez me) Turns out (if one believes this) that candidates all from the west coast make otherwise progressive east-coast voters grumpy. Sooo… one ‘should’ balance a west-coast candidate (Kamala Harris) with someone uh… more associated(?) with the east coast. no, i don’t really accept that either, but hey, we’re also told it “can’t” be a two woman ticket either. (and no, i don’t accept that either either) [wheeze]
…in passing, no one is ever concerned about candidates all “from” the east-coast affecting west-coast voters! (sez the seattlite) [hurrumph]
It’s nice to see so many folks outside of Michigan expressing a desire for our governor to step up to the national scene! We need her to complete her term, though. If Harris chooses not to seek a second term, I would be 100% behind a President Whitmer.
It’s definitely interesting to hear the “experts” weigh in on the magical geography that has to be invoked. I’m not as smart as those folks, I’m sure, but I do know Kelly is popular in a vital swing state, 100% teflon credentials on every front, would be replaced by a Democrat in the Senate (i.e. not a net loss in the Senate and creates an incumbent to run next time), and is a genuinely decent person by all relevant accounts.
All seem like they’re pretty big checks in the “pro” column.
I think she’s more valuable in Georgia. Also, there is a lot of sexism and racism in the American electorate (to put it mildly), and plenty of people who dislike Trump and GOP still have those influences affecting them. I’m all but certain that Harris’ VP will be a white man, to calm down all the people feeling irrationally nervous about a PoC woman as the president.
How exactly would that happen? Arizona replaces US senators who resign within 6 months of a general election by a quick special election primary then they slot the replacement vote into the general. Who is ready to run a US Senate primary and general election campaign for an election in ~100 days?
Given, the GOP is in the same boat, but it makes that seat a toss-up instead of an incumbent with years left in his term.
While that’s true, I’m not sure that racism and sexism are multiplied by the number of Black women on a ticket. People for whom that is an issue already have that issue with Harris. Would it really change anyone’s vote to have two Black women on the ticket vs one?
unfortunately, you’re probably right. i hope however they don’t give it any thought. that’s not the metric by which a person should be selected for any position. otherwise, we’ll forever be giving a racist minority veto powers
For what it’s worth (not a milli-quatlo) the (online) betting parlors, (inculcating the nonsense constraints that the VP candidate must be: (a) male (2) white(ish?) (iii) east-coast-ish) are saying: Josh Shapiro [shrug]
C. For a vacancy in the office of United States senator, the governor shall appoint a person to fill the vacancy. That appointee shall be of the same political party as the person vacating the office and, except as provided in subsection D of this section, shall serve until the person elected at the next general election is qualified and assumes office. If the person vacating the office changed political party affiliation after taking office, the person who is appointed to fill the vacancy shall be of the same political party that the vacating officeholder was when the vacating officeholder was elected or appointed to that office.
I’m not from Arizona nor an expert in their law, so if my understanding is incorrect I’ll happily revise that check-mark. (not enough to change my mind on Kelly, though)
Yeah, all that… looking at Nixon’s actual record, he was very much in the liberal consensus mode. We do know now, not only watergate and cointelpro, but just what a general asshole he actually was… Nothing like Trump, though.
I love Bernie, but…
She was already president of Earth, so… i love this idea…
Full disclosure: I grew up in West Michigan. Although I haven’t lived there for 25 years.
I think Gretchen Whitmer would do very well in the Midwest and Great Lakes states just on reputation alone. And she would likely make a difference with Wisconsin and Michigan for the Democrats. If Whitmer performed well with speeches she could do very well across the country.
In my mind she could appeal to women voters in Nevada and North Caroline in a way that I think Harris might not.
My ideal would be for Harris and whoever she picks as VP to present themselves as a team. Not the usual asymmetric relationship of President and Vice President. But convince voters that it’s time to get things done and that the work is going to be divided up between both people on the ticket this time.
A total campaign blitz to introduce America to the new VP is going to go a long ways to informing voters what not only the new VP is about, but what Harris herself represents. We want to see a lot of hustle and a big change in approach after the very shakey start of the first half of the Democratic campaign.
That’s a good source, but you skipped A and B, which lay out that the person appointed only serves until either the next general election or until a special election if the general election is more than 6 month out. Since we’re less than 6 month out from a general election, a hypothetical replacement for Kelly if he resigns would be elected in November and that’s an open race. The person elected in November would fill the remainder of Kelly’s term.
ETA: Correction. Section B is only for representatives, not Senators. For a Senate seat, the critical time is 150 days out from a general election. A nominated replacement gets to hold the seat for the remainder of the term if the general election is more than 150 days out. If less than 150 days out, it just goes to election in the general and the governor doesn’t appoint a replacement at all.
First of all, why would Kelly have to resign as Senator to run for VP? He could do so if he wanted, but are you aware of some requirement? In any event, the text of the law seems relatively straightforward:
Section A states:
A. When a vacancy occurs in the office of United States senator or representative in Congress by reason of death or resignation, or from any other cause and except as provided in subsection D of this section, the vacancy shall be filled at the next general election. At such an election the person elected shall fill the unexpired term of the vacated office.
Section B addresses “For a vacancy in the office of representative in Congress…” (i.e. a Representative, not Senator).
Sections C-D state:
C. For a vacancy in the office of United States senator, the governor shall appoint a person to fill the vacancy. That appointee shall be of the same political party as the person vacating the office and, except as provided in subsection D of this section, shall serve until the person elected at the next general election is qualified and assumes office. If the person vacating the office changed political party affiliation after taking office, the person who is appointed to fill the vacancy shall be of the same political party that the vacating officeholder was when the vacating officeholder was elected or appointed to that office.
D. If a vacancy in the office of United States senator occurs more than one hundred fifty days before the next regular primary election date, the person who is appointed pursuant to subsection C of this section shall continue to serve until the vacancy is filled at the next general election. If a vacancy in the office of United States senator occurs one hundred fifty days or less before the next regular primary election date, the person who is appointed shall serve until the vacancy is filled at the second regular general election held after the vacancy occurs, and the person elected shall fill the remaining unexpired term of the vacated office.
Again, I’m not from Arizona or an expert on Arizona law, but I do seem to be at least looking at the law that would apply, and it sure seems that if Kelly resigned after November, the Governor (D) would appoint a successor, who would run as an incumbent in the next general election.
True, if Kelly doesn’t give up his seat until/if he’s elected as VP, then the governor would appoint a replacement to serve the remainder of his term. Some states, like California do require sitting office holders to resign if they are running for a different position. I’m not sure if AZ is one of those states.
If he (hypothetically, again) does resign, though, his replacement would be determined by an election in November.
ETA: And AZ does have a resign-to-run law. So to run for VP, Kelly would have to resign as Senator.
I can only imagine this was a very tough decision. Kudos to Biden for having the integrity to put his own wishes and even his lifetime of career aspirations aside for the general good of the country.
And also, kudos to Dark Brandon for pulling this off in a way that slickly avoided a lot of controversy. The timing was perfect. Right after the RNC based their whole convention on how awful Biden was, how old and decrepit etc., Biden drops this switch. And late in the afternoon on a Sunday so there isn’t enough time for the punditry to book guests etc. The Democrats effectively had a whole day free to coalesce before the mass media could start driving conflict and noise for clicks and eyeballs.
Also it’s all a general reminder that the unprecedented is always alive and real and present all around us. We will never not live in unprecedented times.
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