Joe Biden wants to pass the baton to Kamala Harris, and Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro could be her running mate

With President Joe Biden ending his reelection bid and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, Democrats now must navigate a shift that is unprecedented this late in an election year.

And if Harris becomes the nominee, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — a first-term governor Democratic who has focused on technology’s potential and earned plaudits for economic policies that boost business creation and innovation — has a chance of being selected as her running mate.

Democrats are set to hold their convention in Chicago on Aug. 19-22. What was supposed to be a coronation for Biden — a longtime Delawarean and former US senator for the First State — now becomes an open contest in which nearly 4,700 delegates will be responsible for picking a new standard-bearer to challenge Republican Donald Trump in the fall.

Can Biden redirect his delegates?

Biden won every state primary and caucus earlier this year, including Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and his home state of Delaware. He only lost the territory of American Samoa. At least 3,896 delegates had been pledged to support him.

Current party rules do not permit Biden to pass them to another candidate. Politically, though, his endorsement is likely to be influential.

What could happen at the convention?

With Biden stepping aside, Democrats technically start with an open convention. But realistically, his endorsement pushes Democrats into murky territory.

The immediate burden is on Harris to solidify support across almost 4,000 delegates from the states, territories and District of Columbia, plus more than 700 so-called superdelegates that include party leaders, certain elected officials and former presidents and vice presidents.

Will anyone challenge Harris?

Even before Biden announced his decision, Democrats floated California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as potential contenders in addition to Harris. Along with Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Shapiro has also been mentioned — in a July poll from Politico, Shapiro had a better showing against Trump than Biden in key battleground states.

Instead the top of the ticket, however, the Pennsylvania governor is even more promising for the Democrats as the VP nominee on a Harris ticket, according to political observers.

Yet some Democrats argued publicly, and many privately, that it would be a no-brainer to elevate the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to hold national office.

Given how important Black voters — and Black women especially — were to Biden’s nomination and his choice of Harris as running mate, it would be risky for Democrats to pass her over for a white nominee. Democrats already faced historical headwinds before Biden’s withdrawal. Newsom and Whitmer, both of whom are white, and any other Democrat would also have to weigh the short-term and long-term benefits of challenging Harris now versus preserving goodwill for a future presidential primary.

Yet, fair or not, Harris also has not been viewed as an especially beloved or empowered vice president. The best scenario for her and Democrats is to quickly shore up support and project a united front. Democrats could even go forward with their plans for an early virtual vote — a move they’d planned to make sure Biden was selected ahead of Ohio’s general election ballot deadline.

How would a VP be nominated, and what’s the case for Shapiro?

The vice presidential nomination is always a separate convention vote. In routine years, the convention ratifies the choice of the nominee.

Gov. Shapiro, 51, has served in government since being elected to the Pa. House in 2004. After three terms in Harrisburg, he was elected in 2012 to the Montgomery County Commissioners. In 2016 he ran for state attorney general and won. Several actions during his tenure, including taking on the opioid manufacturers and overseeing a grand jury report into Catholic church child abuse, raised his profile nationally. It shined brighter when he oversaw a fix for the collapsed I-95, bringing car traffic back to the Northeast Philadelphia highway in just two weeks.

A potential Harris-Shapiro ticket was one of the choices offered in a July 18 poll, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star — and it performed well, beating a Trump-Vance ticket by 1 percentage point. (The Biden-Harris ticket came in 4 points behind the Republican option.)

If Harris closes ranks quickly, she could name her choice and have the delegates ratify it. In an extended fight, though, the vice presidency could become part of horse-trading — again, a return to conventions of an earlier era.

What happens to Biden’s campaign money?

Biden’s campaign recently reported $91 million cash on hand. Allied Democratic campaign committees brought the total at his disposal to more than $240 million. Campaign finance experts agree generally that Harris could control all those funds since the campaign was set up in her name as well as Biden’s.

If Democrats do nominate someone other than Harris, party accounts could still benefit the nominee, but the Biden-Harris account would have more restrictions. For example, legal experts say it could become an independent expenditure political action committee but not simply transfer its balance to a different nominee.

The Associated Press contributed substantially to this report.