U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx endorsed Hillary Clinton over the weekend, becoming the latest Obama Cabinet member to do so. What’s significant though isn’t that he chose Hillary over Sanders – that was expected – but that he might now become subject to vice presidential speculation.

Foxx passed on the U.S. Senate race against Richard Burr, but sharing a ticket with Secretary Clinton might be more to his liking. Foxx would make sense for a number of reasons, here’s just a few of them:

1. Black turnout. One of the big fears of the Hillary campaign and Democrats in general is that the high African American turnout we saw in 2008 and 2012 was completely Obama-centric. Choosing Foxx would go a long way to keeping turnout from that demographic high.

2. North Carolina. Most running mates actually aren’t chosen to press an advantage in the electoral college, but Clinton has a strategic mind and I would expect her running mate to be someone with swing state appeal. The big question this year for North Carolina is how seriously Clinton plans to campaign in the state. If she chooses Foxx, North Carolina is again a battleground and at the very least Republicans will have to spend big bucks to keep it in their column.
Finally, what’s most critical for Democratic hopes of carrying the state is getting a big margin out of Mecklenburg County. What better way to do so than with a vice presidential pick who was a former mayor of Charlotte?

3. Youth. Let’s face it, Clinton is 69 years old. Especially if she’s facing someone like Marco Rubio, she’ll need someone to bring a youthful vibe to the ticket. Foxx is young, likable, and not so young that he appears inexperienced and in over his head.

Now, the downsides. While Democrats would love to snatch North Carolina from the GOP column, it’s not a must-win for them – maybe Hillary would be better off picking someone like Senators Tim Kaine or Mark Warner of Virginia and really make the GOP sweat. Next, do voters think Foxx’s tenure in Charlotte and in the Transportation gig are sufficient experience to deal with ISIS?

Finally, there’s the Sanders question. No, Hillary won’t choose the Vermont senator as her running mate, but if he makes a strong showing in the primaries she’ll be under pressure to choose a vice president with populist appeal. Having served as mayor of one of the biggest banking cities in the U.S. and in the Obama administration, Foxx might not be able to get the job done.

But in the end, I think Hillary could do a whole lot worse. He certainly makes better sense to me as a running mate for Hillary than someone like Julian Castro.

John Wynne

John Wynne is the “conservative voice” at PoliticsNC, where he also provides polling analysis and commentary on legislative campaigns. When not writing about politics, he enjoys gardening and listening to opera. Contact: johncwynne@gmail.com.