Earlier this week, a POLITICO report led to increased speculation that Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) would be Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate. There's been concerns from the party and the mainstream media ever since President Joe Biden first dropped out over a week ago, that Shapiro poses "risks" given that he's Jewish and a supporter of Israel. Sure enough, those concerns are getting louder.
"Progressives sound alarm as Shapiro VP stock rises," read a headline from The Hill. It mostly comes down to how the governor dares to support our ally in the Middle East, even as the report also mentions he has criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
One letter signed by nearly 50 progressive leaders pointed to Shapiro’s “shortcomings as a national candidate” and urged the vice president to consider Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) instead.
“With the compressed timeline ahead of us to defeat the Trump-Vance-MAGA threat, we simply cannot afford any setbacks,” the letter said.
A letter from another progressive group, known as “VP Unity,” said Harris’s consideration of Shapiro has “set off alarm bells” among young voters, Muslims, Arab Americans and activists.
Some progressive critics of Shapiro say that his response to the pro-Palestine protests in Pennsylvania, which they labeled as “heavy handed,” could impact a Harris-Shapiro ticket more negatively than his views on the Israel-Hamas war more generally.
The governor has been a vocal supporter of Israel in the months since the Oct. 7 attacks, but has also been critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his handling of the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Although the letter was first shared with The Hill earlier in the week, the outlet is not the only one to raise the issue of Shapiro's faith. The New York Times had an even more damning headline of "Pro-Palestinian Groups Seek to Thwart Josh Shapiro’s Chances for Harris’s V.P." from earlier on Thursday.
"Josh Shapiro's VP bid ignites debate over Israel and antisemitism," read the headline of a deep dive NBC News piece from Wednesday night.
As that piece mentioned [Emphasis added]:
Jim Zogby, the founder of Arab American Institute and a longtime Democratic National Committee member, thinks Shapiro would “create a problem” for Harris with Arab Americans and others turned off by Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza, pointing to such remarks.
“He’s got the cadence of Obama and the personal style of Bill Clinton, making you feel like you’re [the only] person in the room,” Zogby said. “But I think he stepped on himself with some rhetoric that was just over the top and unnecessarily so.”
...
Hatem Abudayyeh, the national chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network and one of the lead organizers planning to march at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, said he considers Shapiro’s possible selection among the worst possible outcomes of the Democratic vice presidential search.
“Somebody like Shapiro would be an absolute disaster since he essentially has made it seem as if the Palestinians don’t have any rights to freedom or self-determination or anything,” Abudayyeh said. “He criminalizes our community as a whole and our protest movement.”
...
Shapiro is a proponent of a two-state solution in the region and has long branded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an impediment to peace, calling him a “terrible leader” who “has driven Israel to an extreme” in his November NBC News interview. In expressing concern about deaths in Gaza, Shapiro said in March that leaders “can’t ignore the death and destruction” there.
In a separate statement, [spokesperson Manuel] Bonder pointed to the governor supporting Israel’s “right to defend itself from the brutal Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 and attacks from other terror groups,” adding Hamas “must immediately return the hostages — and that must happen before there can be peace.” Bonder also pointed to Shapiro’s criticism of Netanyahu as “a deeply flawed leader.”
“Governor Shapiro has been very clear that leaders need to speak and act with moral clarity. He has been forceful in speaking out against hate in whatever form — including antisemitism and Islamophobia — and showing that it has no place here in Pennsylvania,” Bonder said, adding Shapiro “has brought people together, listened, and worked with them to try and keep our communities safe and heard.”
You really cannot win with the radical left crowd here, but such anti-Israel folks are also the base of the Democratic Party. The so-called "pro-Palestinian" movement has also engaged in antisemitic and even criminal behavior with their extreme protests, including and especially on college campuses, with Shapiro criticizing such protests.
Democrats have been in disarray over supporting Israel ever since the October 7 attack, they were also when it came to chatter over inviting Netanyahu to speak for a joint session of Congress, and now it looks to be that way again over speculation that Harris' potential running mate is Jewish.
Do these people hear themselves? In addition to how it's an incredibly bad look to oppose a likely running mate because of his faith and support for a key ally, it's also bad politics. This goes for Israel and his support of school vouchers, another issue mentioned by The Hill, despite how Shapiro backed down.
Neither Harris nor Shapiro had to run or earn votes from fellow Democrats in a post-October 7 primary. This is assuming that Shapiro is even on the ticket. So much for protecting democracy, as the Democratic Party, which has become increasingly anti-democratic, likes to discuss ad nauseam Harris and Shapiro, or whoever her running mate is, have to appeal to the general populace, not just the anti-Israel, pro-Hamas part of the Democratic base.
Although the Trump-Vance ticket still has a good chance of pulling off a win in November, Harris could do a lot worse than picking Shapiro. Pennsylvania is a critical swing state, with Trump currently having an average lead of +2.7, per RealClearPolling.
Given how handily he won in 2022, and his popularity rating, Shapiro on the ticket could possibly change those numbers to bring them more in Harris' favor.