This article lists potential candidates for the Democratic nomination for Vice President of the United States in the 2016 election. Former Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

, the 2016 Democratic nominee for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

, chose Senator

Tim Kaine Timothy Michael Kaine (; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th lieutenant governor of Virgi ...

of Virginia as her running mate. The formal nomination took place at the

2016 Democratic National Convention The 2016 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention, held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 25 to 28, 2016. The convention gathered delegates of the Democratic Party, the majo ...

. The Clinton–Kaine ticket lost the 2016 presidential election to the Republican

Trump Trump most commonly refers to: * Donald Trump (born 1946), 45th president of the United States (2017–2021) * Trump (card games), any playing card given an ad-hoc high rank Trump may also refer to: Businesses and organizations * Donald J. T ...

–

Pence A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...

ticket, and Kaine returned to the Senate following the campaign.

Selection process

By April 2016, Clinton had begun discussions with advisers and allies regarding her potential running mate, though

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 20 ...

continued to challenge her in the Democratic primaries. According to campaign sources, Clinton did not have a particular running mate in mind, and did not feel pressured to pick a running mate designed specifically to appeal to Sanders supporters. Clinton's low public approval ratings led many of her allies to recommend that she choose a running mate with the potential to inspire voters, but Clinton's campaign expressed confidence that her ratings would improve once the Republicans had selected a candidate. There was relatively little public discussion about Sanders's running mate selection process. As the

2016 Republican National Convention The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party chose the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, was held July 18–21, 2016, at Quicken L ...

took place roughly one week before the July 25–28

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...

, the Democratic presidential nominee was set to choose her running mate after the Republicans nominated their ticket of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

and

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...

. Clinton's running mate selection process was led by campaign chairman

John Podesta John David Podesta Jr. (born January 8, 1949) is an American political consultant who has served as Senior Advisor to President Joe Biden for clean energy innovation and implementation since September 2022. Podesta previously served as Whit ...

and

Cheryl Mills Cheryl D. Mills (born 1965) is an American lawyer and corporate executive. She first came into public prominence while serving as deputy White House Counsel for President Bill Clinton, whom she defended during his 1999 impeachment trial. She ha ...

, while the vetting process was led by attorney James Hamilton. In discussing her potential vice presidential choice, Clinton stated that the most important attribute she was looking for is the ability and experience to immediately step into the role of president. In contrast to previous Democratic presidential nominees, Clinton allowed for a relatively open selection process, holding rallies with many potential running mates and placing little emphasis on keeping her short list confidential.

Announcement

On July 22, Clinton announced via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that she had chosen Tim Kaine as her running mate. After the selection, Amy Chozick of ''The New York Times'' described Kaine as a " battleground state politician with working-class roots and a fluency in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

." Like his Republican counterpart,

, Kaine has experience both as a governor and a member of Congress. If the Clinton-Kaine ticket had won election, Kaine would have resigned from the Senate, with Democratic Governor

Terry McAuliffe Terence Richard McAuliffe (born February 9, 1957) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 72nd governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he was co-chairman of President Bill Clinton's 1996 ...

appointing Kaine's replacement prior to a 2017 special election. According to journalist

Glenn Thrush Glenn Thrush (born April 6, 1967) is an American journalist, pundit, and author. He is a reporter for ''The New York Times,'' formerly a White House correspondent. He is also a contributor for MSNBC, and was previously chief political correspond ...

, Kaine had been the preferred choice of Clinton since at least February 2016.

Reported shortlist

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' reported on June 16, 2016 that Clinton's shortlist included the following nine individuals. File:Xavier Becerra official portrait (cropped).jpg, File:Cory Booker, official portrait, 114th Congress.jpg, File:Sherrod Brown 113th Congress.jpg, File:Julián Castro's Official HUD Portrait.jpg, File:Eric Garcetti in Suit and Tie (1).jpg, File:Tim Kaine, official 113th Congress photo portrait.jpg, File:Tom Perez (cropped).jpg, File:Rep Tim Ryan 2016.jpg, File:Elizabeth Warren--Official 113th Congressional Portrait--.jpg, According to a CNN report published on June 21, 2016, Clinton had narrowed down her list to no more than five contenders, including Kaine, Warren, and Castro. However, a separate report in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' released that same day stated that, while Clinton had begun vetting Kaine, Warren, and Castro, more than a dozen people remained on her list of possible running mates. On July 7, 2016, CNN reported that Clinton had narrowed down her shortlist to five people: Brown, Kaine, Perez, Warren, and

Secretary of Agriculture The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments. The department includes several organi ...

Tom Vilsack. On July 12, 2016, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' confirmed that the Clinton campaign was vetting former

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

Supreme Allied Commander Europe The Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) is the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) and head of ACO's headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The commander is ...

, Retired Admiral

James G. Stavridis James George Stavridis (born February 15, 1955) is a retired United States Navy admiral, currently Vice Chair, Global Affairs and Managing Director of the global investment firm the Carlyle Group, and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Rockefe ...

. Clinton also met with Colorado Governor

John Hickenlooper John Wright Hickenlooper Jr. (; born February 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Colorado since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 42nd governor of Colorado from 2011 to 20 ...

in mid-July, fueling speculation that he might be chosen as the vice presidential nominee. After Republican presidential nominee

named

as his running mate on July 15, Kaine and Vilsack emerged as the top two contenders, although other individuals such as Perez remained in contention. File:John Hickenlooper June 2019.jpg, File:Stavridis EUCOM.jpg, File:Tom Vilsack, official USDA photo portrait.jpg,

WikiLeaks List

On October 18, 2016

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

released more hacked emails from Clinton Campaign Chair

. One of these emails Podesta sent Clinton was a "first cut of people to consider for VP" in March 2016. He wrote that this list had been generated with other top aides. Podesta organized the list of 39 contenders into what he called "food groups" apparently based around identities — Latinos, women, African-Americans, military brass, and business leaders. File:General John R. Allen.jpg, File:Tammy Baldwin, official portrait, 113th Congress.jpg, File:Mary Barra 2014.jpg, File:Xavier Becerra, official portrait, 111th Congress.jpg, File:Benjamin021.jpg, File:Michael Bennet Official Photo.jpg, File:Mike Bloomberg Headshot.jpg, File:Cory Booker, official portrait, 114th Congress.jpg, File:Sherrod Brown, official Senate photo portrait, 2007.jpg, File:Julián Castro's Official HUD Portrait.jpg, File:Tim Cook 2009 cropped.jpg, File:Anthony Foxx official portrait.jpg, File:Eric Garcetti in Suit and Tie.jpg, File:Bill Gates June 2015.jpg, File:Melinda Gates - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011.jpg, File:Kirsten Gillibrand, official portrait, 112th Congress.jpg, File:Andrew Gillum.jpg, File:Martin Heinrich, official portrait, 113th Congress.jpg, File:Eric Holder official portrait.jpg, File:Tim Kaine, official 113th Congress photo portrait.jpg, File:Muhtar Kent (cropped).jpg, File:Amy Klobuchar.jpg, File:Virginia Governor Democrats Terry McAuliffe 095 (cropped).jpg, File:Claire McCaskill, Official portrait, 112th Congress.jpg, File:ADM William H. McRaven 2012.jpg, File:Michael Mullen, CJCS, official photo portrait, 2007.jpg, File:Chris Murphy, official portrait, 113th Congress.jpg, File:Judith Rodin 2011.jpg, File:Deval Patrick official photo.jpg, File:Tom Perez (cropped).jpg, File:Kasim Reed 2011.jpg, File:Ken Salazar official DOI portrait.jpg, File:Bernie Sanders.jpg, File:Howard-Schultz 2011-04-12 photoby Adam-Bielawski.jpg, File:Jeanne Shaheen, official Senate photo portrait, 2009.jpg, File:Debbie Stabenow, official portrait 2.jpg, File:Tom Vilsack, official USDA photo portrait.jpg, File:Elizabeth Warren--Official 113th Congressional Portrait--.jpg,

Other speculated candidates

The following individuals received coverage as potential running mates from multiple news sources. These individuals do not appear on the short list above or on the Wikileaks list.

Cabinet members

File:Gary Locke official portrait.jpg, File:Janet Napolitano official portrait.jpg,

Members of Congress

File:Evan Bayh official portrait.jpg, File:Joaquin Castro, official portrait, 113th Congress.jpg, File:Al Franken Official Senate Portrait.jpg, File:Merkley official photo.jpg, File:Patty Murray, official portrait, 113th Congress.jpg, File:Bill Nelson.jpg, File:Mark Warner, official 112th Congress Senate portrait.jpg,

Governors

Steve Beshear by Gage Skidmore.jpg, Martin O'Malley (24334527435) (cropped).jpg, Brian Schweitzer official photo.jpg,

Other individual

File:Kamala Harris Official Attorney General Photo.jpg,

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Democratic Party vice presidential candidate selection, 2016 2016 United States presidential campaigns Vice presidency of the United States Democratic Party (United States) campaigns Tim Kaine Hillary Clinton Joe Biden Evan Bayh Bernie Sanders Cory Booker Julian Castro Elizabeth Warren Eric Garcetti John Hickenlooper Kirsten Gillibrand Amy Klobuchar Michael Bennet Bill Gates Michael Bloomberg Martin O'Malley Kamala Harris