The re-candidacy of Joe Biden for the White House with the Kamala Harris at his side. But now Kamala Harris will also need a suitable vice president by her side. A Joe Biden, at best. As the representative of the Democratic left wing in sunny California and the daughter of immigrants with roots from India and Jamaica, the current vice president may embody the “American dream”, but she is not winning the US presidential election. When he even has to contend with a strengthened intra-party Donald Trump, omnipresent in the Midwestern states of the USA, which will partly decide the electoral contest in November.

It is an “unwritten law” for a presidential candidate USA to choose a vice president who will complement his profile or compensate for his weaknesses. Presumably a would-be president has accumulated considerable experience, but is looking for a much younger vice president who exudes vigor and enthusiasm as a running mate. Examples abound: Jimmy Carter with Walter Mondale in 1976, George W. Bush (the elder) with Dan Quayle in 1988, John Kerry with John Edwards in 2004, John McCain with Sarah Palin in 2008, Mitt Romney with Paul Ryan in 2012 and of course Joe Biden with Kamala Harris in the last presidential election.

Who is the ideal duo?

Rare, but not unthinkable, is the reverse scenario: the presidential candidate is either unusually young or still inexperienced in the “habitat” of Washington, so he is looking for an experienced vice president who will protect him from mishaps. We saw this combination in 2004, when George W. Bush (the younger) chose Dick Cheney, who later went down in history as “the most powerful vice president in US history.” But also in 2008 or 2016, when Barack Obama convinced the Americans that together with Joe Biden they are an ideal duo.

The possibility of Joe Biden returning to the pre-election race as a candidate for vice president seems rather … a Hollywood scenario. Other Democrats with similar experience don’t appear to be available at the moment, with the exception of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who nevertheless is billed more as a technocrat than as a career politician. In addition, the head of American diplomacy does not show any particular interest in high offices (without even rejecting them).

On the other hand, of course, Kamala Harris herself cannot be treated as a girl. She has completed her 59 years and, as polls show, after the departure of Biden she is the only one in the Democratic camp who has built a “national profile” and can lead the pre-election campaign with claims.

The politics of “rant”

But there are also criteria of gender, religion or even …geography for the selection of candidates. An important condition for anyone who aspires to win the presidency in the USA is to prevail in the so-called swing states. These are six US states (Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia) in which there is no strong tradition in favor of the Democrats or the Republicans, and the majorities at any given time seem changeable, depending on the candidates and the circumstances of the moment.

In this regard, an ideal “co-candidate” for Kamala Harris would be a white male from a swing state who belongs to the moderate wing of the Democrats and has political experience. Like 60-year-old Mark Kelly, senator from Arizona, Iraq veteran and advocate of a hard line on the issue of immigration, which probably also constitutes Kamala Harris’ Achilles heel since Biden decided to assign her this “hot potato”. But 51-year-old Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania and rising star of the Democrats, is also considered a good case. And Donald Trump may insist on the slogan “Make America Great Again,” but Shapiro, who is considered a “man of action,” has for years countered with a slogan of his own: “Get Shit Done.” If nothing else, a delightful rant for the TikTok generation.