Why Mark Kelly joining the Harris ticket would be the final nail in the MAGA coffin
The Arizona Senator Delivers More than Just a Swing State
Now that Kamala Harris has all but sewn up the Democratic nomination for president of the United States, the only uncertainty lies in her choice of a running mate. A cavalcade of names has been marching its way through the news cycle, but anyone watching the process, from a higher view — say, orbit — would see the obvious choice. Arizona Senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly would not only likely deliver a swing state, but his stellar life story and impeccable credentials would build a foundation of trust beneath the Harris candidacy that would elevate the campaign into the stratosphere.
While there are several other viable swing state options for VP, none of them deliver a life story so fit for national leadership. Kelly is a veteran, a scientist, a devoted husband, a pragmatist, and a reluctant politician. Sure, most of the other candidates will say they share some of these values, but for Kelly, his achievements and integrity are public record. He is cut from the mold of heroes like Yeager, Armstrong, and Aldrin. He is the archetypal American hero: a brave, intelligent, protector, born to guide his peers through adversity and blessed with the grit to carry them toward progress. A steady hand keeping the liberal banner held high in an era flooded by muckraking and chaos.
Why does any of this matter? A Shapiro or Whitmer would certainly deliver a few more electoral college votes for Democrats. It matters because of Trump. Harris already presents a stark contrast to the MAGA ticket with her history as a criminal prosecutor and Trump’s history of, well, committing crimes, but Kelly’s addition would not only widen that moral chasm but add the sense of a return to a more innocent political age. A time when a recording of a candidate describing their own penchant for sexual assault would have not only been an immediate disqualifier but weighed down an entire party. In an era of pervasive political mistrust, Moderates and independents will have trouble resisting the undeniable and refreshing integrity Mark Kelly brings to the Democratic ticket.
Kelly also amplifies America’s guilty pleasure in politics: novelty. Novelty was the double-edged sword that saw our country take a chance on a little-known senator from Illinois as the first Black president and then regrettably follow that historical choice with America’s first reality TV president. In a country that loves firsts, a Harris/Kelly ticket would deliver the first woman president, the first president of Indian descent, and the first former astronaut vice president.
The final, somewhat more wonky, strategic advantage of adding Kelly to the ticket is his firsthand experience with illegal immigration. The challenges at our southern border are a bit of a weak spot for Harris and likely to be the right’s primary point of attack in the coming months. As an Arizona senator, Kelly has been vocal on the issue, often shelling out bipartisan criticism of Washington’s failures on the issue. His approach to immigration has been measured, with his support for tighter border controls and additional resources to border personnel in the Border Response Resilience Act balanced by his dedication to finding a path to citizenship for Dreamers and throwing his weight behind comprehensive immigration reform. His addition to the Harris ticket would neutralize its greatest weakness. Another wonky upside to a Kelly appointment is the fact that by law in Arizona, his vacated senate seat would be filled by a Democrat, so there is no chance, at least in the short term, that his higher calling will affect the tentative balance in congress.
This presidential election has been a frustrating slog for America’s liberals. By nearly all measures, the state of the union has improved in the last four years, but the state of their candidate prevented America from taking notice. Couple that with the reemergence of the MAGA specter, and you had the left bracing for stormy seas. Harris’s unlikely ascent to the Democratic helm, in its early days at least, seems to have calmed the troubled waters for the party. If Kamala Harris wants to sail their ship up the Potomac and put the MAGA threat to an end for good, she needs Arizona Senator and exemplary American Mark Kelly as her first mate. For who better to help you run against a villain than a hero?
