Why pull a popular senator from a western purple state who isn’t term limited when there’s a popular governor (Roy Cooper) from an eastern purple state who is?
Any Arizona Democrat can warm a seat in the Senate. Kelly can do much more for the Democratic party at the national level than at the Arizona level. His background is too appealing to leave him at the state.
I really like him, but I think she’d do much better naming a younger VP. He is exceptionally qualified, but he’s probably going to quell some of the enthusiasm young voters are showing for Harris.
Kelly’s “True American Hero” angle will resonate with Never-Trump Republicans, without offending Democratic sensibilities. The worst thing anyone has said about him is he opposes Medicare for all, but his explanation for that opposition is not unreasonable, and does not preclude either universal healthcare or the ACA.
(His argument is that Medicare offers mediocre coverage, and people should not be forced from an employer-sponsored plan with excellent coverage into a plan that offers less.)
he’s probably going to quell some of the enthusiasm young voters are showing for Harris.
There are a lot of younger voters who fondly remember all of the amazing science outreach that Scott Kelly (Mark’s twin brother who is also an astronaut) did during his year long mission on the ISS. If anything, I’d wager that younger voters are more aware of the Kelly’s than older voters — and are more likely to get excited about a NASA astronaut than some Midwestern governor they’ve only vaguely heard of.
