Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is reportedly vetting as a running mate Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a rising Democratic star who could help deliver the party the largest northern swing state.
Shapiro is one of several Democratic governors, including Kentucky’s Andy Beshear and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, on the vice president’s rumored shortlist since becoming Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee. He has largely positioned himself as a moderate and could help Harris break through in a state that Donald Trump’s campaign sees as a must-win after the former president’s loss there four years ago.
His potential drawbacks, though, include a staunchly pro-Israel stance that’s at odds with younger, more liberal voters, as well as breaking with the state’s largest teachers’ union over private-school vouchers.
Shapiro, 51, has long been considered a politician bound for higher office, even before being elected governor in 2022.
“He’s a bit of a ladder climber. He doesn’t stick around in most positions very long,” Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) told HuffPost. “He’s been forthright that he wants to be the first Jewish president.”
For six years, he served as Pennsylvania attorney general, earning national attention for rooting out sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and for helping broker a billion-dollar settlement against opioid manufacturers.
“He’s been on the opioid crisis, and recognizing the ravages that our country has suffered as a result of folks like Purdue, the Sacklers and others,” Rep. Maddie Dean (D-Pa.) told HuffPost.
“He went after the Catholic Church when they covered up an extraordinarily grotesque set of abuses of children,” Dean said. “He’s not afraid to do these things.”
When the I-95 bridge collapsed near Philadelphia last year, Shapiro’s quick response and reconstruction effort won him bipartisan praise, amping up speculation about his future beyond Pennsylvania.
“He went after the Catholic Church when they covered up an extraordinarily grotesque set of abuses of children. He’s not afraid to do these things.”
– Democratic Rep. Maddie Dean of Pennsyvlania
Choosing Shapiro has some obvious upsides for Harris, foremost that putting him on the ticket could help Democrats win Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state with 20 electoral votes. The governor is viewed as a more centrist choice for vice president than other candidates Harris is reportedly considering. Since Harris is already facing GOP attacks over her progressive stances during the 2020 Democratic primary, someone like Shapiro could bring ideological balance and appeal to voters in blue-collar communities.
Shapiro, a white man from the Mid-Atlantic region, could also bring what one lawmaker described this week as “demographic balance” to a ticket headed by Harris, a Black and Indian woman from California. Most of the names being tossed out for veep, like Sen. Mark Kelly (R-Ariz.) and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, are also those of white men.
The Harris campaign declined to confirm whether it’s vetting Shapiro or anyone else in particular, calling reports to the contrary premature and speculative. Shapiro’s office also did not respond to a request for comment.
“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,” a campaign spokesperson said in an email. “And when that candidate is chosen, together, they will handedly defeat the Trump-Vance ticket in November.”
Shapiro’s Jewish faith has been discussed as an asset for Harris among Jewish voters, according to Bloomberg News reporter Jonathan Tamari. But the governor’s fiercely pro-Israel stance could be a liability among Democrats who voted “uncommitted” in the presidential primary to push the Biden administration to be tougher on Israel. The protest movement was especially strong in Michigan, a battleground state that contains the country’s largest majority Muslim city.
During the height of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses earlier this year, Shapiro told Politico it was “unacceptable” that some schools could not protect the safety of their students. “I do feel a somewhat unique responsibility to speak out when I see this level of antisemitism on our campuses and in our communities,” he said.
The Pennsylvania governor also caught heat last year from the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the union representing more than 187,000 teachers, over his push for private-school vouchers in the state budget. The union had previously endorsed Shapiro for governor against Republican Doug Mastriano.
The former AG decisively beat Mastriano, a far-right Christian nationalist, in 2022, though Mastriano was seen as an easy GOP opponent given his extreme positions on abortion and the 2020 election.
Previewing how he might talk about Trump on the campaign trail, Shapiro said during his 2022 campaign against Trump-endorsed Mastriano: “If you don’t look like [Doug Mastriano], if you don’t vote like him, if you don’t worship like him, if you don’t marry like him, you don’t count in his Pennsylvania.”
