Vice President Kamala Harris’ first significant campaign decision backfired almost immediately, costing her and the Democratic Party the keys to the White House.
Harris’s choice to pick Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) over Jewish Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) had a lasting effect that, according to a report, is among the top reasons she lost to President-elect Donald Trump. Exit polls reveal that in addition to Harris struggling to unify the Democratic base, her running mate, Walz, also had trouble rounding up Americans from a critical group: Jewish voters.
Although the Harris-Walz ticked won Pennsylvania Jewish voters 48 to 41 percent against Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, leaving Shapiro off the ticket was a significant failure for Democrats. A survey conducted by Honan Strategy Group for the Teach Coalition, a branch of the Jewish Orthodox Union, found that 53 percent of Jewish voters would have preferred Shapiro as vice president over Walz.
If 53 percent had voted for Harris and had Shapiro been her running mate, support for Trump would have decreased to 38 percent.
Ultimately, Trump and Vance won Pennsylvania by securing the state’s 19 electoral votes, 50.4 percent to Harris’ 48.6 percent.
Meanwhile, 43 percent of Pennsylvania voters suggested that the increase in antisemitism influenced how they voted in the 2024 election. Ironically, Shapiro was reportedly targeted by an “ugly, antisemitic campaign.” As a result, Harris failed to secure the majority among a group traditionally favored by Democrats.
“The far-left has made anti-Israel activity a cornerstone. They have sway in the Democratic Party,” the founder and CEO of the Teach Coalition, Maury Litwack, said. “This is a wake-up call for the Democratic Party in New York.”
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) accused the Democratic Party of being antisemitic.
“You oughta ask yourself why didn’t she pick Josh Shapiro as her VP?" Texas Cruz said during an interview on Fox News. “The answer is, in today’s Democrat Party, they could not stomach a candidate who was Jewish."