Kelly and Shapiro lead Harris’s VP contenders who received vetting materials

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) are reported as the two leading candidates to be Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate.

Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president on Monday, setting off the race for her running mate. Sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that the major figures who were sent running mate vetting materials were Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Govs. Roy Cooper (D-NC), Josh Shapiro (D-PA), Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), Tim Walz (D-MN), and J.B. Pritzker (D-IL).

MSNBC obtained an almost identical list, with the exception of Pritzker. Notably, Pritzker said he had not received any vetting materials.

A senior administration official told ABC News on Tuesday that of those on the list, Shapiro and Kelly are at the top. Both are from key battleground states.

Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) said he hasn’t received vice presidential vetting materials, even though he was floated by many as one of the top candidates for the position.

The lack of inclusion was confirmed by Beshear on Monday when he told CNN he hadn’t been asked to submit information.

The Kentucky governor was widely seen as campaigning for the running mate spot, appearing in interviews multiple times in the past week and aggressively attacking the man who would be his opponent, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH).

“Well, first, he ought to call the vice president by her title. She earned it. She is Vice President Harris,” Beshear said about Vance in an interview with CNN on Monday. “But the second is the grasping for straws. Listen, J.D. Vance is a phony. He’s fake. I mean, he first says that Donald Trump is like Hitler, and now he’s acting like he’s Lincoln. I mean, the problem with J.D. Vance is he has no conviction, but I guess his running mate has 34.”

Harris’s running mate will likely be a centrist governor from a red or swing state, and Beshear fits this bill.

Another candidate commonly floated as a running mate who wasn’t on the list was Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.