Vice President Kamala Harris admires the crowd during a campaign rally, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Harris stayed in the nation's capital this weekend, meeting in-person with Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Tim Walz of Minnesota, and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, three of the roughly half-dozen running mate contenders, Democratic sources confirmed to Fox News.
Among those also in contention, according to sources, are Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky and JB Pritzker of Illinois, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Ahead of her meetings with the contenders, Harris was briefed by a vetting team led by former Attorney General Eric Holder.
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The rollout of the announcement is not known, but it's likely it could come through a video introduction, similar to how Biden announced Harris as his running mate four years ago. But the Harris campaign's plans could be upended on Monday or Tuesday by a media leak of the announcement.
It's been mostly smooth sailing for Harris since Biden's blockbuster announcement amid a rising chorus of calls from fellow Democrats to end his re-election bid following a disastrous debate performance in late June against former President Trump.
Former President Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
The Harris campaign, firing back on Sunday morning, claimed that Trump was "weak… struggling… panicking… and Donald Trump is running scared."
Harris has yet to sit for a major interview since taking over for Biden, and the Trump campaign is turning up the criticism.
"Kamala Harris is too afraid to answer media questions and cannot lead us in these troubled times," Vance charged in a social media post on Monday.
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Vance plans to tail Harris as part of the Trump campaign's plan to bracket the vice president and her running mate on their initial swing state tour.
Sources in the senator's political orbit confirmed to Fox News that Vance will be in Philadelphia on Tuesday as the vice president kicks off her campaign swing.
Sen. JD Vance speaks at a campaign rally at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Harris will start the week by formally landing the party's presidential nomination, as a virtual roll call run by the Democratic National Committee concludes at 6 p.m. ET. But there's no drama, as the vice president was the only candidate to qualify for the roll call.
The roll call kicked off on Thursday and DNC Chair Jaimie Harrison announced on Friday that Harris had clinched the nomination by winning the votes of a majority of delegates to the party's nominating convention, which gets underway in two weeks in Chicago.
While the past two weeks have been smoother than many expected, the Harris campaign is well aware there are still three months to go until the November election.
Battleground states director Dan Kanninen emphasized that "it is the task of the Harris campaign to turn the unprecedented energy behind the Vice President into action."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/in-race-against-trump-harris-hours-away-from-consequential-announcement