Harris running mate frontrunner has some big skeletons in his closet

One of the frontrunners to be Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate in the 2024 presidential election appears to have some big skeletons in his closet.

The candidate, according to Fox News, is U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a former U.S. Navy captain and astronaut.

Remember the Chinese spy balloon that President Joe Biden allowed to fly across the entire United States - including over military sites - before deciding to finally have the U.S. military shoot the object down over the Atlantic Ocean?

Well, it turns out that Kelly has ties to Chinese spy balloons.

The details

Fox reports that Kelly funded a spy balloon company alongside an individual with connections to the Community Party of China.

Per the outlet:

Before becoming a senator, Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., was not only an astronaut, but he also co-founded a company that specializes in spy balloons, which was funded, in part, by a venture capitalist in China with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

The company is known as World View, and it received venture capital from Tencent, which, according to Fox, "is one of China's largest corporations, and it was founded in 1998 by 'Pony' Ma Huateng, Zhang Zhidong, Xu Chenye, Chen Yidan and Zeng Liqing."

Fox goes on to explain how Tencent has become infamous for its data collection. The outlet writes:

The Wall Street Journal reported in 2021 that Tencent collected a trove of data over the years from its mobile app WeChat, the predominant social-media platform in China . . . That has made the company’s platform WeChat a powerful surveillance tool for the Chinese government, which reportedly regulates Tencent and regularly has it suppress dissenting views.

The claim is that Tencent has "zero access, zero input, and zero control" over World View.

Background

Kelly has not commented on this situation. He is said to have stepped away from his duties at World View ever since becoming a U.S. Senator, although reports indicate that he did have a "very brief conversation" with a member of Tencent in 2020.

This all comes as Kelly is reported to be at the top of Harris's list of possible running mates.

"Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) has risen to near the top of the list of possible running mates as Vice President Harris considers whom she wants to run alongside her," The Hill reports.

The outlet adds, "[Kelly] enjoys strong popularity in his purple battleground state of Arizona, one that could help decide the winner of the November election."

The other top frontrunner is believed to be Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D).