With President Joe Biden having dropped out of the 2024 race and Vice President Kamala Harris elevated to the status of presumptive Democratic nominee, the search is on to find her a running mate and, if she wins the presidency, a prospective vice president.

That search for a Harris sidekick for her nascent White House run is occurring on a rather condensed timeline with the Democratic National Convention just weeks away, but there are several high-profile candidates for her to choose from, according to CBS News.

Notably, nearly all of the prospects mentioned that comprise the "deep bench" of the Democratic Party's future leaders are state-level governors, with several hailing from mixed-partisan battlegrounds or even red-leaning states that the party hopes could be in play in November's election.

Possible running mates for Harris

First on the list compiled by CBS News of 10 possible running mates for VP Harris are the two non-governors said to be under consideration -- Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a former astronaut and gun control advocate, and Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg, whose claim to fame is being the first openly gay Cabinet official confirmed by the Senate.

There are also a handful of blue state governors on the list, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Then there are the swing state governors that Harris could pick, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, as well as red state governors like Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper.

Most or all of those governors have established themselves as left-of-center on a majority of the important issues and, at least in theory, would provide Harris with the electoral boost of their own state's vote as well as their experience as a governing executive -- experience that the vice president, who previously served as a senator and prosecutor, sorely lacks.

Some candidates being vetted by the campaign

NBC News reported that of that list of candidates, at least five have already been given vetting materials to fill out and return to the campaign to disclose certain information about their backgrounds.

That reportedly includes Govs. Cooper, Shapiro, Walz, and Whitmer, along with Sen. Kelly, but the report also indicated that Govs. Beshear and Pritzker are being actively considered as well as another previously unmentioned name, former Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), who served as a co-chair of the now-defunct Biden-Harris campaign.

The vetting process is being conducted by former Attorney General Eric Holder and his law firm, Covington & Burling LLP, on a shortened timeline with the convention just weeks away, and it is unclear how long or in-depth that process can be with such little time for investigations.

As for the purported status of particular frontrunners or who Harris is leaning toward choosing, campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz sought to dismiss the burgeoning rumors and speculation.

"Any reporting on developments or updates in Vice President Harris’ running mate search are premature and speculative," Munoz said. "Vice President Harris is considering a large pool of qualified candidates, and will choose a partner that shares her commitment to fighting for the middle class, protecting Americans’ freedoms, and protecting our democracy. And when that candidate is chosen, together, they will handily defeat the Trump-Vance ticket in November."

Trump still leading in the polls

Meanwhile, as VP Harris settles into her newfound role as the presumptive Democratic nominee, RealClearPolling's average of national polls that included her against former President Donald Trump shows that, at least thus far, she fares only marginally better than President Biden did before he ended his campaign over the weekend.

In a head-to-head matchup, Trump leads Harris by 1.7 points, 47.6-45.9%, while in a five-way matchup that includes independent and third-party candidates, Trump leads Harris by 2.8 points, 43.4-40.6%, with left-leaning independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at 7.8%, the Green Party's Jill Stein at 1.4%, and leftist Cornel West at 1.2%.