Next week will see former Vice-President Joe Biden announce his running mate for the 2020 Presidential Election. What we do know for sure is that Biden’s VP candidate will be a woman. This decision is certainly an astute one, as it truly was women who decided the 2018 mid-term elections, and it’s likely will again in November.

So who will it be? Will “suburban moms” be the swing vote bloc that most influences the 2020 election? If so, who does Biden go with in order to reach them?

It’s almost certainly going to be a name that you’re already quite familiar with. According to Sports Betting Dime’s latest political betting news, California Senator Kamala Harris is the -180 favorite to be named 2020 Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate. Like Biden himself, Harris appeals to the moderate lane of the left, as she holds some positions that are closer to the center. She’s certainly a strong pick, as she has past experience in several high profile positions within government.

A former prosecutor and presidential candidate herself, she was one of the first notable names to drop out. Harris struggled to convey her Presidential platform in a clear, concise manner to the electorate, but she did see a lot of momentum early on. Of course the lead story right now, regarding a potential Biden-Harris partnership, are the notes used by the presumptive Democratic nominee during a speech in Wilmington, Delaware on Tuesday.

Photographers zoomed in on the paper in his hands, and they saw Kamala Harris’ name present, beside such phrases as “Do not hold grudges,” “Campaigned with me & Jill,” “Talented,” “Great help to campaign”, and “Great respect for her.” Was this a poker player getting his cards shown while still at the table?

We’ll see next week, as Biden’s staff refused to make a statement on it, but one can definitely infer that Biden was, at least in some capacity, referencing the heated exchange the duo had during the last round of Democratic debates. It’s not a big deal to bridge the gap from that moment to the decision that appears imminent. It’s the nature of our two-party political system, unfortunately, and it happens every four years. 

The two parties are at each others throats during the primaries, then reconcile and come together for the general. Last time out, probably the most extreme example of this standard practice was former Texas Governor Rick Perry calling reality tv host Donald Trump “a cancer” on their political party, then later endorsing him. And then Trump’s team appointed Perry the Secretary of Energy! 

So Kamala Harris is the strong favorite to get the nod next week, but if it’s not her, then Susan Rice, Ambassador to the United Nations when Biden was Veep under President Barack Obama, is the most likely other option. 

Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.

You can follow Banks, a former writer for Chicago Tribune.com, on Twitter and his cat on Instagram.

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