Harry Reid on Elizabeth Warren serving as Hillary Clinton's VP: 'Hell no'
In an interview on Monday, MSNBC host Joy Reid asked outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid whether he supported either Sen. Elizabeth Warren or Sen. Sherrod Brown as potential Clinton running mates.
Reid shot down the idea, pointing out that if Clinton chose a nominee from a Republican-controlled state, the governor would fill the vacancy, essentially allowing the seat to switch hands.
"If we have a Republican governor in any of those states, the answer is not only no, but hell no," Harry Reid said. "And I would do whatever I can and I think most of my Democratic colleagues here would say the same thing."
He added: "I would yell and scream to stop that."
Ohio state law requires the governor to appoint a senator to finish out the term. With former Republican presidential candidate John Kasich running the Buckeye state, it's a good bet that a Republican senator would serve for Brown's remaining two years. In Massachusetts, the nominee would serve for up to 160 days before state law requires the governor to hold a special election.
Though Warren's work as an aggressive watchdog and consumer advocate has helped her garner a major national profile, many political observers have noted that Brown could also help burnish Clinton's progressive credentials. The senator has strong ties to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and hails from Ohio, the Rust-Belt swing state that's critical to secure the electoral-college votes needed to clinch the White House.
As she comes closer to clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, Clinton is publicly keeping the door open to different options, recently even floating the idea of nominating someone from the business community.
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez are all on reportedly on the short list of potential running mates.