By Zaenul Habibi

One week ago, Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate. “Veepstakes”—the vice presidential selection process—is chock-full of undertheorized arguments about how a vice presidential nominee affects the ticket. Because she avoided a traditional primary, little is known about the policy positions Harris will campaign on and how she will choose to govern—making her running-mate selection feel even more consequential.

While the Harris campaign has a message around why it picked the midwestern veteran and former teacher, I wanted to take a step back and question whether the assumptions about what a running mate could add to a ticket actually make any sense.

One week ago, Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate. “Veepstakes”—the vice presidential selection process—is chock-full of undertheorized arguments about how a vice presidential nominee affects the ticket. Because she avoided a traditional primary, little is known about the policy positions Harris will campaign on and how she will choose to govern—making her running-mate selection feel even more consequential.

While the Harris campaign has a message around why it picked the midwestern veteran and former teacher, I wanted to take a step back and question whether the assumptions about what a running mate could add to a ticket actually make any sense.One week ago, Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate. “Veepstakes”—the vice presidential selection process—is chock-full of undertheorized arguments about how a vice presidential nominee affects the ticket. Because she avoided a traditional primary, little is known about the policy positions Harris will campaign on and how she will choose to govern—making her running-mate selection feel even more consequential.

While the Harris campaign has a message around why it picked the midwestern veteran and former teacher, I wanted to take a step back and question whether the assumptions about what a running mate could add to a ticket actually make any sense.

One week ago, Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate. “Veepstakes”—the vice presidential selection process—is chock-full of undertheorized arguments about how a vice presidential nominee affects the ticket. Because she avoided a traditional primary, little is known about the policy positions Harris will campaign on and how she will choose to govern—making her running-mate selection feel even more consequential.

While the Harris campaign has a message around why it picked the midwestern veteran and former teacher, I wanted to take a step back and question whether the assumptions about what a running mate could add to a ticket actually make any sense.