VOICES: We are in a new era for how vice presidents are chosen

To many home-grown Ohioans, J.D Vance isn’t a fringe outlier; he’s what these buckeye party goers see when they look around the scene. But to Democrats — especially of the California vintage — his coming to power would be as much of a public policy wreckage as what they see Trump offering. All that would change is the style.

And it’s the same with Harris. When Democrats see her, they think she’s as logical as vegan is to kale. But if she ever ascended, Republicans would see something else. She would in no way be an improvement upon the Biden policy game.

The point is that succession is always a bad picture today.

In prior eras, this wasn’t so. The VP pick was fashioned to be either safe, stylish, accomplished, or was meant to secure a state in the electoral college — a strategy that doesn’t work (by the way). Prior eras gave you smiling sidekicks like Lloyd Benson, Al Gore, Dan Quale, Tim Kaine, Geradine Ferraro; and even various resume-accomplished folks like Harry Truman, Joe Biden, Hubert Humphrey and Lyndon Johnson. It was either qualifications or polish.

So why has it changed? It has to do with the polarized political culture. When the elected president is done with the office, the regime wants to hand the ball off to the ardent coach-in-waiting to run in the party’s primary. This allows platform loyalty to be given the pole position in the next horse race. So, had this worked properly, Harris should have had an inside track when running against the Joe Manchin’s of that playground, the same as Vance would have against your Nikki Haley’s or Mitt Romney’s.

What does this mean for Harris? Will she select Sean Hannity’s worst nightmare as her pick? No, she won’t. And this is because she isn’t an election winner — she’s an installed candidate. The forces that picked her will encourage a cosmetic pick, “a good pair.” The logic will be old school, one of style, marketing, maybe trying to shore up a state (which doesn’t work).

The reason why installed candidates pick mates differently is that they didn’t defeat anyone. There was no open contest among party factions that produced Harris as the victor. It was an inside job. And so, the point will be to placate those forces rather than the victor stressing platform ardency.

In short, there won’t be much spice in the sauce.

Dr. Wilson is politics professor who teaches the presidency at Wright State University.