The race to be Kamala Harris’ running mate has already started.

Moments after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential contest and endorsed his vice president on Sunday, speculation began swirling over who would be Kamala Harris’ running mate. Some Democrats started floating their preferred picks. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, for instance, “would be an excellent choice” to share the ticket, said Philadelphia Democratic Party chair and former Rep. Bob Brady.

Vice President Kamala Harris is now the most likely replacement for President Joe Biden after he dropped out of the 2024 race Sunday and endorsed her as the Democratic nominee—triggering a rushed competition among the Democratic Party’s rising stars to become her running mate.

Names commonly floated as replacements for Biden at the top of the ticket, mostly governors who served as surrogates for the Biden-Harris campaign and who have high approval ratings in their home states, would appear most likely to be top contenders for her running mate.

After President Joe Biden announced that he would suspend his reelection campaign, his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him has propelled her to being the most likely Democratic nominee. Now, the question is who her running mate will be.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday affirmed his support for President Biden’s reelection bid, joining a chorus of Democratic elected officials backing the president as a handful of House members have publicly called for him to drop out of the 2024 race.

“The president did a great job of answering questions throughout that meeting. Listen, Joe Biden is our nominee. I am for Joe Biden. I’ve been campaigning for Joe Biden,” Pritzker told reporters Tuesday in Chicago.

Imagine this nightmare scenario. An American citizen walking on American streets is arrested, detained, and questioned by a police officer who serves a hostile foreign government such as China, Russia, or Iran. The foreign cop might be a spy charged with keeping track of U.S.-based persons of interest on behalf of his government. This spy, who doubles as an American cop, has the power to act under American law, investigate U.S. residents, and even use lethal force, should he see fit. 

Democratic state Sen. Emil Jones III resigned from his leadership post and committee chairmanship Wednesday, a day after he was hit with federal bribery charges that again pushed public corruption to center stage as Gov. J.B. Pritzker and fellow Democrats seek to keep control of state government in the November election.

At a campaign event Wednesday morning on the Far Northwest Side, Pritzker sought to portray pervasive political corruption in Illinois as a bipartisan problem rather than one endemic to Democrats.

Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker declared a state of emergency Wednesday as migrants are being dropped off in Chicago from Texas.

The declaration will allow state and local agencies to provide humanitarian assistance and resources including emergency shelter, housing, food, transportation and medical assessments, he announced. He also announced the deployment of 75 members of the National Guard manage the migrant influx.

Democratic gloom is deepening as the party looks toward November’s midterms and beyond. 

The bleak outlook is engendered in part by a grim political environment marked by historically high inflation, elevated gas prices and pandemic fatigue. 

But the Democratic depression is sharpened by concerns over whether President Biden is really the man for the moment, given his advancing age — he turns 80 in November — and his preference for consensus-building over the frontal political combat many in his party would prefer.

Is Biden running?

He says he is.

Earlier this month, the 79-year-old president rejected the idea that a large majority of his own party's voters don't want him on the ballot in 2024 when a reporter cited poll numbers that showed only 26 percent of Democrats want Biden to be the nominee. "Read the polls, Jack!" Biden said. "You guys are all the same. That poll showed that 92 percent of Democrats, if I ran, would vote for me."