Strong sourcing and preparation keep AP competitive in veepstakes

By Zeke Miller, Colleen Long, Mike Balsamo, Seung Min Kim, Steve Karnowski, John Hanna and Mike Pesoli

During a presidential campaign, few moments are as competitive for journalists than staying on top of the search for a vice president. That’s especially true in this year’s U.S. presidential election, when Kamala Harris suddenly became the Democratic nominee and had a matter of weeks – not months – to search for and decide on a running mate. But relying on strong sourcing, intensive preparation and extensive collaboration between the Washington bureau and U.S. News teams, the AP was well positioned to dominate this story. As soon as it became clear that President Joe Biden would exit the race and Harris would step in, teams in Washington and the states identified potential candidates and began preparing stories and videos that could publish as soon as an announcement was made. The teams worked together closely during the decision-making process to report out which candidates were receiving the strongest consideration and which were fading. With that preparation and deep source work, the AP was among the first to report Harris’ decision to select Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. CNN was the only organization to report the news ahead of the AP. Our alert and push were well ahead of The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico and other major competitors. 

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