HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has not been tapped to run for vice chairman on the Democratic ticket with Kamala Harris.
Shapiro, 51, a centrist Democrat, was handed over for Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.
“One of many issues that stood out to me about Tim is how his convictions on combating for center class households run deep. It’s private,” Harris wrote on social media Tuesday, asserting the decide. “We’re going to construct a fantastic partnership. We’re going to construct a fantastic staff. We’re going to win this election.”
Shapiro, a well-liked chief government in a must-win state for Democrats, shortly emerged as a lead contender for the No. 2 spot. However his critics resurrected among the extra controversial and embarrassing episodes in his political profession, together with lingering questions on how he dealt with a sexual harassment criticism in opposition to a prime advisor.
Whereas Shapiro didn’t make the ticket, Pennsylvania continues to be on the heart of the Harris marketing campaign’s new chapter.
At a packed occasion at Philadelphia’s Temple College, Harris appeared alongside her new working mate and made a pitch centered on opposing abortion restrictions (which Republican nominee Donald Trump and his working mate J.D. Vance help), defending the Inexpensive Care Act, and giving households stability.
“Strengthening the center class shall be my defining aim when I’m president of the USA,” Harris advised the gang.
Additionally current and emphatically supportive of the Harris-Walz ticket? Shapiro, who served as a distinguished Biden surrogate on the Pennsylvania marketing campaign path in 2020.
He took the stage in Philly to thunderous applause, and kicked off his speech by assuring Pennsylvanians, “I really like being your governor.”
“I will be working my tail off to ensure we make Kamala Harris and Tim Walz the subsequent leaders of the USA of America,” he mentioned.
Of Harris, he added, “She has an enormous coronary heart and she or he is battle-tested and able to go.” He referred to as Walz “a fantastic man.”
“Tim Walz is an impressive governor. Tim Walz is a trainer. Tim Walz is a guardsman. Tim Walz is a superb patriot,” Shapiro mentioned. “And I’ll inform you what else, Tim Walz is an expensive good friend.”
Harris additionally made it clear that Shapiro can have a task within the marketing campaign.
“Josh is an expensive, expensive good friend and a unprecedented chief,” she mentioned. “He and I’ve been spending plenty of time collectively over time, and I advised Josh, look, I’m so, so invested in our friendship and doing this collectively, as a result of along with Josh Shapiro, we’ll win Pennsylvania.”
Stephen Caruso / Highlight PA
Harris’ choice ends weeks of intense vetting and hypothesis, and comes shortly earlier than the Democratic Nationwide Conference in Chicago. There, Harris will take President Joe Biden’s place because the Democratic presidential nominee following Biden’s momentous choice to drop out of the race and forgo a possible second time period within the White Home.
As Democratic voters gathered Tuesday at Temple’s Liacouras Heart, many advised Highlight PA they might don’t have any bother getting on board with Walz as vice chairman, though he edged out their governor.
Rachel Farrow, a 30-year-old advertising and marketing director who mentioned she has been knocking on doorways for the Harris marketing campaign, advised Highlight PA that, selfishly, she’s completely happy Shapiro is staying in Pennsylvania as a result of he makes her really feel protected that her reproductive rights shall be protected.
She thinks Walz’s working-class roots will attraction to the sorts of voters who defected to Trump in 2016 and helped him win Pennsylvania.
“I believe an individual like Tim Walz represents Americana,” Farrow mentioned. “A Midwest dad.”
Kelly Schaaf can be all in. Schaaf, who’s 47 and works for the Philadelphia faculty district, was raised a Republican however modified her registration partly due to her disdain for the rise of Christian nationalism inside the celebration.
She mentioned she’s trying ahead to voting for a lady with a “stable observe document of voting for folks’s rights,” and added that the addition of Walz doesn’t harm. “He does good work in schooling,” she mentioned of the previous geography trainer.
Democrats weren’t the one ones campaigning in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
Only a few hours earlier than Harris’ occasion at Temple, U.S. Sen J.D. Vance of Ohio, Trump’s working mate, appeared at a smaller rally at a South Philly venue finest identified for holding boxing matches.
There, Vance debuted among the Trump marketing campaign’s criticisms of the newly formalized Democratic ticket. Harris and Walz, he mentioned, are each far left.
“The most important drawback with the Tim Walz decide — it isn’t Tim Walz himself. It is what it says about Kamala Harris, that when given a chance, she’s going to bend the knee to essentially the most radical parts of her celebration,” Vance mentioned.
Some members of the principally native crowd at that occasion advised Highlight PA they’d some misgivings about Vance becoming a member of Trump’s ticket.
Angelina Banks, who traveled from Montgomery County to attend together with her two younger daughters, described herself as a devoted conservative. She ran unsuccessfully for state Home in 2022 and was an alternate delegate for Trump at this 12 months’s Republican Nationwide Conference.
When Trump initially selected Vance as a working mate, Banks mentioned, she was “somewhat taken off guard” due to the 40-year-old’s relative youth. However, she added, “The extra that I’ve gotten to know him over the previous couple of weeks, I can perceive the selection, and I actually help it.”
Giovanna McKinley, a 21-year-old nursing pupil from South Philly, mentioned she’s excited to vote for the ticket due to her considerations about inflation and the southern border. However she added she’s somewhat unsettled by Vance’s earlier full-throated help for a nationwide abortion ban. He has extra just lately mentioned he thinks states ought to make their very own legal guidelines.
“I imply, I am pro-women’s rights. Undoubtedly, that is one factor I’m anxious about,” she mentioned. “However I do not assume our rights shall be stripped away fully. Clearly, he is for everybody. He isn’t only for, you recognize, the lads.”
Shapiro weathered criticism earlier than being handed over
Although many Philadelphia voters advised Highlight PA they’re completely happy Shapiro is staying put, he didn’t emerge unscathed from the vice presidential vetting course of.
After a key aide — and longtime political ally — was accused of sexual harassment throughout Shapiro’s first 12 months in workplace, his administration quietly negotiated and paid out a $295,000 settlement. The aide resigned three weeks later.
The Nationwide Ladies’s Protection League, a nonprofit that seeks to forestall sexual harassment, referred to as on the Harris marketing campaign to contemplate Shapiro’s dealing with of the incident.
“The American folks should know that, if referred to as to a better workplace, Governor Shapiro will do extra to make sure the protection and dignity of workers, volunteers and constituents in his workplace,” the group mentioned in an announcement.
The vetting additionally rekindled pressure over the incident at house. Whereas some Democrats publicly defended Shapiro’s dealing with of the problem, others joined the criticism, as did Republicans. State Senate President Professional Tempore Kim Ward, a frequent opponent, posted on social media that the incident confirmed a “normal disrespect for ladies.”
Shapiro’s stance on Israel and its struggle in Gaza additionally got here underneath intense scrutiny. An observant Conservative Jew, Shapiro has ceaselessly mentioned that his religion has performed prominently into his choice to enter and stay in public service.
He’s a vocal supporter of Israel, telling the New York Instances earlier this 12 months that he’s “pro-the thought of a Jewish homeland, a Jewish state, and I’ll actually do every thing in my energy to make sure that Israel is robust and Israel is fortified and can exist for generations.”
In Harrisburg, he has proven this by internet hosting official occasions with Israeli survivors of Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault and backing a invoice to strip state funding from any faculty that divests from Israel. As legal professional normal, Shapiro additionally supported utilizing a state legislation that targets corporations that take part within the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions motion to punish Ben & Jerry’s.
And amid rising protests in opposition to the struggle, the Shapiro administration up to date the workplace’s code of conduct to bar “scandalous” conduct. An electronic mail accompanying the coverage cited social media posts, boycotts, graffiti, and public confrontations as examples of potential “hate speech” that might not be tolerated.
Nonetheless, Shapiro has additionally criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling him “one of many worst leaders of all time” early this 12 months.
Because the vetting continued, The Inquirer unearthed an opinion article Shaprio wrote as a pupil on the College of Rochester, wherein he described Palestinians as “too battle-minded to have the ability to set up a peaceable homeland of their very own.”
A spokesperson mentioned Shapiro’s stance has modified over the previous three a long time.
In that very same article, Shapiro wrote that he was a “previous volunteer within the Israeli military.” His spokesperson advised Highlight PA in an announcement, “At no time was he engaged in any navy actions.”
“Whereas he was in highschool, Josh Shapiro was required to do a service mission, which he and several other classmates accomplished via a program that took them to a kibbutz in Israel the place he labored on a farm and at a fishery,” the spokesperson mentioned. “This system additionally included volunteering on service initiatives on an Israeli military base.”