This weekend Vice President Kamala Harris is said to be interviewing the final candidates for her own vice presidential running mate. The final candidates to be considered include the Democratic governors of Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Kentucky along with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. If Harris wants to sustain the momentum of her campaign and give herself the best chance to win in November, we believe that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro would make for the wisest choice.
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The Pennsylvania governor has a track record of pragmatic policymaking that has drawn favorability among groups that many thought impossible in today’s partisan environment, including Democrats and Republicans, business and labor unions, and Muslims and Jews. We believe comparing the pros to the cons would lead many voters, particularly those undecided voters, to cast their ballot for the Harris-Shapiro ticket.
While Shapiro only took office in January 2022, he does bring nearly thirty years of political experience at federal, state, and county levels. Shapiro spent eight years on Capitol Hill, ultimately serving as highly effective chief of staff; six years as state attorney general and eight as a state representative, including a stint as deputy speaker of the House; and another six years on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, five of which he served as Chairman. Shapiro also gained experience as a corporate lawyer over more than a decade – balancing his part-time political roles as a state representative and county commissioner.
Encountering antisemitism
In a last-ditch effort, far left groups attempted to sabotage Governor Shapiro’s candidacy using charged slurs, such as “Genocide Josh.” These extremist groups –seem to miss the fact that the governor is largely in line with the Biden-Harris Administration and “well within the mainstream of the Democratic Party,” as noted by Rep. Richie Torres (D, NY).
When Shapiro was 20 years old and attending the University of Rochester in New York, he wrote an article in which he said that Palestinians were “too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own.” Shapiro had spent five months studying in Israel and volunteered in the Israeli army. When Shapiro was asked about his college article during a news conference on Friday, he highlighted that his views have since changed. “I have said for years, years before Oct. 7, that I favor a two-state solution—Israelis and Palestinians living peacefully side-by-side, being able to determine their own futures and their own destiny,” he said.
Of course, those groups can always vote for a Trump-Vance presidency, with a former president who implemented an immigration and refugee ban on select Muslim-majority countries during his first term and who has openly supported Israel’s “war on terror.”
Sexual misconduct by a rogue staff member
During recent political infighting, an allegation of sexual harassment was brought back up in public. The allegation was not against Shapiro but against a former staffer. The governor’s office followed a “rigorous process…grounded in integrity” conducting an internal investigation, reaching a settlement with the victim (but no admission of guilt), and resulting in the departure of the alleged offender. Non-disparagement is standard for such settlements across sectors; otherwise, there is no point in settling. Democrats would be wise to remember this was not misconduct by Shapiro and should keep the focus on Trump’s own sexual misconduct.
Long history of winning tough races
Governor Shapiro has seen success in elections that many deemed unwinnable. In his first political race in 2004, Shapiro won an open state House seat in an overwhelmingly Republican district, reportedly knocking on more than 10,000 doors. In 2011, he was elected to the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, the first time in the history of the county that the Democratic Party won control of the three-person Board. Finally, and most notably, Shapiro made history by winning more votes than any Pennsylvania governor ever and earning more votes than the Democratic presidential candidates in 2016 and 2020.
Highly popular among all voters
Maybe most importantly, the governor has the numbers to back up assertions that he could deliver Pennsylvania’s 19 electors to the Democrat Party in addition to other pivotal states in the “blue wall.” In May 2024, 57% of Pennsylvanians strongly or somewhat approved of Shapiro’s leadership – 35% of which were voters planning to back Trump in November.
Eloquent public speaker and campaigner
While some may have forgotten the appeal and importance of a gifted orator after nearly eight years of Trump and Biden, voters must not forget the many of the memorable speeches delivered by President Barack Obama. Some commentators have compared Governor Shapiro’s speaking abilities to those of Obama, noting that they even sound alike. Executive oratory is not incidental but foundational as it is through such messaging that meaning is created. Presidential historian Richard Neustadt in his classic 1960 work Presidential Power has explained that presidential power is not the coercive power to command but the subtle power to persuade. A president will be frustrated by merely barking orders. Getting things done in a democracy requires persuading others that acting consistency with the administration’s goals is in their own best interest. As President Harry Truman warned about his successor General Dwight (Ike) Eisenhower, “He’ll sit here and he’ll say, ‘Do this! Do that!’ And nothing will happen. Poor Ike—it won’t be a bit like the Army.” The American people long for skilled speakers, who can connect with those of all backgrounds and reignite a declining sense of national pride.
Shapiro also took a slightly different tactic from his other short-listed peers during the intra-party contest to be vice president for a Harris presidency. Instead of appearing on cable news shows, the governor chose a more balanced approach, maintaining his regular travels as the state’s executive while staunchly campaigning for Harris and allowing his record to speak for itself. In effect, Shapiro showed Harris that he can be a loyal and effective number two – capturing enough attention to garner support for his cause but not stealing the spotlight.
A centrist, not an ideologue
Counter to the trends of our dominant two-party system of government, the governor does not always adhere to traditional party norms. While promising to protect state voting and abortion rights and advancing efforts in the state’s clean energy transition, Shapiro also chose not to mandate masks and vaccines for COVID-19 (but educate) and has advocated for the adoption of education savings accounts (but still has teacher union support), believing each policy best meet the needs of his diverse state.
State leaders have commented on Shapiro’s pragmatic, centrist policymaking. For instance, the Republican member of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners during Shapiro’s tenure, praised Shapiro stating “[he was] the best county commissioner I ever knew.” During his gubernatorial bid in 2022, seventeen former GOP officials endorsed him over his GOP opponent, including former Congressman Charlie Dent and former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff.
Pro-business and pro-growth agenda
We have heard questions from countless CEOs inquiring what a potential Harris presidency means for the business environment. Shapiro should put any concerns of overly restrictive regulation or excessive tax policy to rest. Shapiro has been endorsed by both fossil fuel companies as well as environmental and renewable energy stakeholders. His more than ten years of experience practicing corporate law provides practical insights into the priorities of business leaders. In fact, he has advocated for cutting state corporate taxes in half as well as taken steps to implement business friendly policies, make government work at the speed of business, incentivize business innovation and expand pathways into the workforce. His administration has seen many successes in only 18 months, including attracting more than $2 billion in private capital investment and creating thousands of new jobs.
Character
Shapiro has been unafraid to engage in discussions about the difficulties embedded in the Israel-Hamas war and what it means to him as a person of Jewish faith. He has also shown a willingness to learn from past experience, admitting to rational but erroneous beliefs and refining policy positions, such as when he called for an end to all capital punishment once taking over the governor’s office. (Shapiro’s campaign platform in the 2016 state attorney general election made an exception for capital punishment for “heinous crimes.”)
Harris’s candidacy has breathed new life into the Democratic Party. A selection of Shapiro as a running mate would put her words of being a unifier into action. The vice president can often be an afterthought once votes are counted and presidents become engrossed in the demands of our nation’s most important job. However, some have used the vice presidency to be a true right-hand to the president, such as when Al Gore led initiatives to rethink how government works or when then-Vice President Biden implemented the $840 billion stimulus package in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. We believe Shapiro would be a true partner. With his pragmatic leadership style and consensus building experience, Shapiro has always delivered across a wide bipartisan constituency which will likely continue.