As the presumptive Democrat presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris is openly searching for her vice-presidential partner on the 2024 ticket. On Monday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the co-chair of the Harris campaign, stated that Harris will make a decision within the next week.
Names of top contenders include Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
While recent polling suggests that each of these candidates are virtually unknown, the mainstream media would have us believe that these Democrats are moderates who could help sway independents and swing-state voters towards Harris.
Politico details Democrats’ support for Sen. Mark Kelly because of his support for border security. The Wall Street Journal writes a glowing profile of Gov. Andy Beshear with the headline, “This Democratic Governor Knows How to Win in a Red State. Is His Party Listening?” The Philadelphia Inquirer contends, “Shapiro is making the GOP nervous.”
Are they right? Is there such a thing as a “moderate” Democrat?
As a former Navy pilot and astronaut, Kelly presents himself as someone who can be trusted to put his constituents over President Joe Biden’s radical agenda. But a closer look at his voting record reveals the opposite. Kelly has voted with Joe Biden 95% of the time, supporting all of Biden’s nominees, and voting for the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act”(S. 2938), which infringes on Second Amendment rights of responsible gun owners and incentivize states to adopt gun confiscation orders known as red-flag laws. Harris, for her part, has been clear she supports mandatory gun buyback programs. Imagine this dynamic gun-confiscating duo in the White House.
Kelly also supported H.R.1, a far-left power grab which would federalize the election process, legalize felon voting (which Harris also supports), and pump millions of taxpayer dollars into candidates campaign coffers, including his own.
Beshear effectively cast himself as the lone Democrat who holds the key to winning in Trump country. Hardly. The truth is when push comes to shove, Beshear is beholden to the far-left and their radical agenda like every other Democrat in the party. Look no further than his veto of Kentucky Senate Bill 150 which bans all irreversible gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies for children under the age of 18. Thankfully, he was overridden by the legislature.
Shapiro is also seen as a safe pick for Harris. Yet, Shapiro’s record reeks of a decision-making process based exclusively on what will help propel him to popularity and power. Prior to serving as the Keystone State governor, Shapiro was the attorney general, an office which he used to target President Trump’s administration (no doubt to build clout with Democrats), and keep small businesses closed during Pennsylvania’s COVID lockdowns.
As governor, Shapiro’s record is less than favorable. His leadership has led Pennsylvania to rank 35th in economic outlook, 42nd in economic performance, and 46th in domestic net migration – meaning residents are fleeing his state in droves.
Additionally, he must answer for his past record of settling a sexual harassment claim against one of his aides with $295,000, “at least part of which,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, would be “covered with taxpayer dollars.”
Scratching beneath the shallow, shiny surface, neither Kelly, Beshear, or Shapiro passes the “moderate” smell test, and clearly none can be counted on to stand up for the American people over the whims and demands of their party.
The truth is that far-left progressives run today’s Democrat Party and no one is immune. Without the stamp of the approval from the far-left wing of the party, no Democrat stands a chance.
Harris and her team understand this truth. They are happy to take the positive earned media as we speculate over which “moderate” she will choose, knowing full well she cannot hope to win the general election without first securing the far-left base (which they are working on diligently). There is no conversation about winning Pennsylvania or Arizona without ensuring Minnesota and Illinois.
More to the point, no Democrat today would temper what would assuredly be the most liberal administration in our nation’s history. Moderate Democrats are an extinct breed, and it is preposterous to think any one person will bring the party back to the middle ground and common sense.
Those unicorns were slaughtered long ago.
Carly Atchison Bird is the former national spokeswoman for the Ron DeSantis presidential campaign. She is the founder and president of Bird’s Eye Consulting and lives in Virginia Beach.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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