Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has some apparent benefits as a possible working mate for Vice President Kamala Harris. He’s a widespread, reasonable governor of a crucial battleground state with robust ties to each legislation enforcement and arranged labor.
Within the two weeks since Shapiro emerged on Harris’ quick record, nonetheless, he has additionally been subjected to a barrage of criticism — largely from extra progressive detractors — and accompanying detrimental media protection that will, at this level, make him extra controversial with components of the Democratic coalition than any of the opposite finalists for the No. 2 spot.
Initially, and maybe most prominently, an ad-hoc group of particular person left-wing activists and commentators has attacked Shapiro for being too pro-Israel — with one self-described Jewish leftist erecting an internet site titled NoGenocideJosh.com.
The proximate trigger of those activists’ ire is Shapiro’s touch upon CNN in April that components of pro-Palestinian protests on faculty campuses had been participating in antisemitism. Shapiro distinguished between totally different sorts of protesters and likewise warned towards Islamophobia on campus, however one polarizing line — generally stripped of context — has raised progressive hackles.
“We have to query whether or not we would tolerate this if this were people dressed up in KKK outfits or KKK regalia making comments about people who are African-American in our communities,” he stated.
Shapiro’s allies observe he holds a mainstream Democratic place on Israel-Palestine: He helps Israel’s proper to exist and defend itself, needs a two-state resolution, and views Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an impediment to peace. In January, Shapiro known as Netanyahu “one of the worst leaders of all time.”
A number of pro-Israel Democrats have argued that singling out Shapiro, an observant Jew, is antisemitic.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, one other Democratic vice-presidential finalist, has a equally standard pro-Israel document and comparatively uncritical stance on Israel’s prosecution of the conflict in Gaza, however he has not elicited an assault marketing campaign from the left. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, two different Democratic contenders who haven’t attracted a lot progressive scrutiny, have likewise taken pro-Israel stances anathema to the left.
“Singling [Shapiro] out, or applying a double standard to him over the war in Gaza, is antisemitic and wrong,” Rep. Adam Schiff, who’s Jewish and the Democratic Senate nominee in California, posted on X. “Don’t go there.”
In the Atlantic, Yair Rosenberg has even proposed that Shapiro’s pro-Israel credentials make him uniquely suited to defend Harris amid inevitable disputes with the Israeli authorities and “insulate the boss from charges of anti-Semitism.”
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However in the midst of Shapiro’s temporary second within the nationwide highlight, extra info has emerged about his historical past of pro-Israel views. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Friday that Shapiro had penned an op-ed for his faculty newspaper wherein he argued that peace between Israelis and Palestinians “will never come,” as a result of Palestinians are “too battle-minded” to just accept Israel. The top of the column describes Shapiro as having volunteered for the Israeli army.
Bulwark reporter Marc Caputo additionally reported that shortly after graduating faculty, Shapiro labored within the Israeli Embassy’s public affairs division for 5 months between stints as a legislative aide for Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Shapiro’s workers clarified Friday that he not holds the views he expressed in his faculty newspaper. And whereas he volunteered on an Israeli military base in highschool as a part of a program wherein he additionally frolicked on a kibbutz, or farm commune, he didn’t have interaction in any army exercise, his workers added.
“Since he wrote this piece as a 20-year old student, Governor Shapiro has built close, meaningful, informative relationships with many Muslim-American, Arab-American, Palestinian Christian, and Jewish community leaders all across Pennsylvania,” Shapiro spokesperson Manuel Bonder stated in an announcement. “The Governor greatly values their perspectives and the experiences he has learned from over the years – and as a result, as with many issues, his views on the Middle East have evolved into the position he holds today.”
Shapiro has concurrently endured broadsides from some public schooling advocates over his assist for personal college vouchers. The place certainly places him to the correct of most elected Democrats, who regard vouchers as a giveaway to non-public college dad and mom that deprives the general public college system of important funding.
“I’m still voting for Kamala, of course, but I sure wish her running mate was someone other than Shapiro,” stated Victoria Switzer, a retired public college trainer in Pennsylvania piqued by Shapiro’s voucher assist.
Shapiro maintains that he solely helps vouchers to lock in elevated public college funding by way of compromise with pro-voucher Republicans in charge of the state Senate. Failing to achieve that type of deal, he has nonetheless persistently elevated public college funding, together with by way of a bipartisan settlement this yr to supply an extra $4.5 billion to the state’s faculties over the subsequent 9 years.
“Despite being the only Governor in the nation with a divided legislature – and despite bad faith attacks from all sides – Josh Shapiro has been a champion for public education and delivered real results,” Bonder, Shapiro’s spokesperson, stated.
Switzer, a resident of pure gas-heavy Dimock, Pennsylvania, has one other gripe with Shapiro: a settlement he reached in 2023 with a fracking firm that had contaminated her city’s water. On the time, she had hailed him because the “people’s lawyer” for getting the corporate to pay for a brand new water line from a unique nicely, however shortly afterward, she felt deceived when it emerged that the deal additionally allowed for fracking to return to Dimock and for the gasoline firm to take over native water inspections from the state.
Switzer is one among a handful of environmental activists in Pennsylvania who wrote to the Harris marketing campaign calling for her to not decide Shapiro on the idea of his conduct within the Dimock case.
“Under Governor Shapiro’s leadership, the Office of Attorney General secured a historic settlement for Pennsylvanians living in Dimock – getting Coterra Energy to finally take responsibility for polluting residents’ water and commit to building a new $16 million public water line to provide clean, reliable drinking water for generations to come,” Bonder stated.
“I’m still voting for Kamala, of course, but I sure wish her running mate was someone other than Shapiro.”
– Victoria Switzer, retired public college trainer
To some progressives although, the sheer quantity of objections is purpose sufficient to forged him apart.
Harris “has all of this good will, all of this energy, all this excitement,” stated Rania Batrice, a Palestinian American progressive concerned in local weather advocacy. “If she chooses somebody with so much horrible baggage, it’s alienating to our base, many of whom felt alienated by [President Joe Biden] already.”
Certainly, what started as a trickle of criticism aimed toward Shapiro has swelled to a flood. On Saturday, The New York Instances reported that advocates for survivors of sexual assault fault Shapiro for not dismissing a prime aide over sexual harassment allegations till six months after a criticism concerning the aide was first made.
Bonder informed the Instances that Shapiro was “not aware of the complaint or investigation until months after the complaint was filed.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who clashed with Shapiro whereas they served on the state’s board of pardons collectively, additionally communicated to the Harris marketing campaign by way of his representatives that he’s involved Shapiro has an aversion to progressive sentencing reforms, Politico reported Saturday.
Shapiro’s allies have mustered a little bit of a pushback marketing campaign to spotlight extra optimistic tales concerning the governor. Veterans of former President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential marketing campaign spoke to The New York Instances about how Shapiro’s endorsement of Obama in 2008 — at a time when Democratic elected officers within the state had been cut up between him and Hillary Clinton — kicked off a heat, lasting relationship between the 2 males.
Mark Penn, a centrist Democratic guide, characterised Shapiro in a New York Instances column because the antidote to Harris’ “one overriding weakness”: That “she is perceived as being to the left of Joe Biden.”
Joe Scarborough, the co-host of MSNBC’s influential liberal morning present “Morning Joe,” targeted on Shapiro’s energy in Pennsylvania.
“Josh Shapiro is governor of the most important state in this election. He is the most experienced leader and gifted orator of the remaining (strong) candidates,” Scarborough posted on X. “He would present voters with the most dynamic ticket since Clinton/Gore in 1992, and will be ready to serve on Day 1.”
