I was looking at the last 10 elections and the V.P.s on the ticket.
Winning candidate on the left.
* = did not win home state
2020 Harris CA - Pence IN
2016 Pence IN - Kaine VA
2012 Biden DE - Ryan WI*
2008 Biden DE - Palin AK
2004 Cheney WY - Edwards NC*
2000 Cheney WY - Lieberman CT
1996 Gore TN - Kemp NY*
1992 Gore TN - Quayle IN
1988 Quayle IN - Bentsen TX*
1984 Bush TX - Mondale MN
Observations:
--The fact a state could be in play does not seem to affect the choice. Most of those choices were not
from states in play. Far from it.
--One thing I noticed is that Governors often run for President, but rarely are chosen for the V.P. slot.
The exception above is Mike Pence. In Harris's list of 6 people being vetted, 4 are Governors (Beshear,
Shapiro, Walz, Pritzker) 1 is a Senator (Kelly) and 1 a member of the Cabinet in the current administration
(Buttigieg).
--In the closest election above, 2000, Gore didn't even carry his own state as he did as VP the previous two times.
--Biden chose Harris in 2020, and everyone suspected it would be close, but CA was not in question.
--2016 was the second closest election on this list and VA did go Dem., but it had been going Dem for several previous elections.
--None of this probably matters.
