Harris set to name VP pick

WASHINGTON, Aug 05 (AFP): Kamala Harris will name her running mate as soon as Monday, as she prepares for a tour of US battleground states aimed at turning excitement over her presidential bid into durable support that can power her to victory.

All paths to the White House run through a handful of swing states, and Harris will kick off her five-day run Tuesday in the largest-Pennsylvania-as she builds momentum for her showdown with Republican Donald Trump on November 5.

"At this moment, we face a choice between two visions for our nation: one focused on the future and the other on the past... This campaign is about people coming together, fueled by love of country, to fight for the best of who we are," she posted on X.

Fresh from winning enough delegate votes to secure the Democratic nomination, the country's first female, Black and South Asian vice president heads into the national convention in Chicago in two weeks in total control of her party.

In a campaign that is barely two weeks old, the 59-year-old former prosecutor has obliterated fundraising records, attracted huge crowds and dominated social media on her way to erasing the polling leads Trump had built before President Joe Biden quit the race.

Next on the agenda is a vice presidential pick, with an announcement expected any time before her rally Tuesday evening alongside the mystery nominee in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's largest city.

The Keystone State is the most prized real estate among the closely fought battlegrounds that decide the Electoral College system.

It is part of the "blue wall" that carried Biden to the White House in 2020, alongside Michigan and Wisconsin-two states where Harris is due to woo crowds on Wednesday.

Pennsylvania is governed by 51-year-old Democrat Josh Shapiro, a frontrunner in the so-called "veepstakes" shortlist that also includes fellow state governors Tim Walz and Andy Beshear, as well as Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and US transport secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Later in the week, Harris will tour the more racially diverse Sun Belt and southern states of Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina, as she seeks to shore up the Black and Hispanic vote that had been peeling away from the Democrats.