Harris-Newsom Dream Ticket, But There’s a Snag

Juli Hansen / shutterstock.com
Juli Hansen / shutterstock.com

Now that Joe Biden has bowed out of the presidential contest, attention turns to the newest options! With Biden throwing his weight behind current VP Kamala Harris as the leading contender for the top spot, speculation swirls about who’ll join her on the Dem ticket.

One name thrown about is Cali Governor Gavin Newsom, whose own ambitions got a boost after endorsing Harris’ bid yesterday. He praised her ability “to prosecute the case against Donald Trump’s dark vision.” However, this budding partnership may hit a constitutional roadblock courtesy of the oft-overlooked 12th Amendment.

This arcane provision dictates that each elector must cast separate ballots for President & VP candidates – crucially stipulating that neither can hail from the same state (emphasis mine): “one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.”

Problematically, since Harris calls DC home while maintaining official residence (& voter reg) in Cali, any joint ticket featuring these Golden State natives risks forfeiting all 54 precious electoral votes!

Experts weigh in on the conundrum facing Dems should Harris tap Newsom as her No. 2. Per Prof. Barry Burden (UW-Madison), such a pairing spells trouble: “the electors couldn’t vote for both of them… So that would then create a dilemma, maybe a crisis, for those electors to decide which one of them they would vote for. It might cost the ticket electoral votes.”

Notre Dame law prof Derek Muller concurs, noting that outside Calif., no issue arises (“a Harris-Newsom ticket is not a problem”), yet within the Golden State boundaries lies the snag: “it would prohibit California’s electors from voting for both Harris and Newsom.”

Muller underscores why avoiding this pitfall matters most: “nobody wants to lose California” given its outsized influence come November. Should either candidate shift residences à la Dick Cheney circa 2000, perhaps salvaging those critical EVs becomes feasible.

Still, even without this hurdle, teaming up two Cali heavy-hitters raises concerns over optics. As Burden astutely observes, having stalwarts like Reps. Adam Schiff & Nancy Pelosi associated closely with the ticket might reinforce negative stereotypes among swing voters nationwide: “loading up on the California image just isn’t the best way for the party to portray itself in a presidential election.”

Stay tuned as intra-party machinations unfold ahead of the eventual nomination showdown! Will pragmatism prevail, or ideological purity win the day? Only time tells whether Team Blue finds creative workarounds or takes a different path altogether. One thing remains certain though: every single electoral vote counts in today’s hyper-polarized America.