Is Sen. Mark Kelly Trying to Buy His Way Onto the Kamala Harris Ticket?

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By Joe Cunningham

Kamala Harris is having to go through a very abbreviated running mate selection process. She doesn't have months to really consider her options. In fact, she doesn't really have multiple weeks. She's gotta make the decision fairly soon.

Of her options, there are some that would objectively benefit her. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro would be a great choice in that it could keep former president Donald Trump from winning Pennsylvania and make his pathway to victory much harder. Shapiro is, in fact, such a good option that the left's antisemitic wing can't help but try to torpedo that immediately.

Another person who is being vetted, according to reports, is Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona - a Democrat in an otherwise fairly red state (recent elections notwithstanding). But Kelly isn't just a U.S. senator. He's also the husband of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and, with her, co-founded the Giffords gun control advocacy group. That group, as it turns out, is pledging $15 million to help the Harris campaign.

Let me reiterate that: Mark Kelly's gun control advocacy group has pledged $15 million in order to help the Harris campaign while Kelly is under consideration to be Harris' running mate.

The new spending blitz, first reported by NBC News, will cover paid TV and digital ads, direct mail (in English and Spanish), new polls to help allies hone their messages and the deployment of staffers and surrogates, including a co-founder of the group, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., to persuade and turn out voters. The group is focusing those resources on swing states like Michigan and Arizona, as well as California and New York, where a series of competitive races could decide control of the House.

“Battleground state voters are consistently ranking gun violence as among their top concerns,” Giffords Executive Director Emma Brown said in a telephone interview. “The issue is actually moving votes and able to really affect electoral outcomes. So we are planning to use our resources this year, particularly the $15 million, to support gun safety champions and to communicate directly with voters who are uniquely mobilized by guns in key battleground races across the country.”

To NBC's credit, they asked the obvious question:


Brown declined to comment on the fact that Harris is vetting a co-founder of the group, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., former Rep. Giffords’ husband, saying it isn’t getting involved in “the vice president speculation.”

Now look: I wouldn't expect a gun advocacy group to not spend a lot of money in favor of Harris. Or any Democratic nominee for that matter. It's expected. But in this business, optics are important, and the optics of this are "Hey! We directed $15 million in an ad blitz for you! $15 million you don't have to spend from your own war chest! Isn't that sweet of me?"

I haven't really thought much of Kelly's potential as a running mate for Harris. I don't think he brings much to the table for her. If this is enough to buy his way onto the ticket, though, then the Democrats deserve to have wasted the opportunity.

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