PITTSBURGH — Republicans increasingly view one of the Democrats under consideration to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate as the most likely to give her a boost and make her efforts more complicated: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
These Republicans say Shapiro, a first-term governor of a critical swing state, is someone who could help broaden Harris’ appeal to independent voters and traditional Democrats who are turning away from the party, and help win her home state. – the most crucial battlefield on the presidential map, in their opinion.
In Shapiro, they see a governor who not only beat state Sen. Doug Mastriano in a landslide in 2022, but is also considered an effective activist and messenger who hasn’t entirely alienated Pennsylvania Republicans in the process.
“I just think Shapiro is super strong,” said an ally of former President Donald Trump. “And Republicans should be concerned about this. If I were her, that would be the choice.”
This person added that Shapiro has avoided violent attacks from his Republican counterparts “because he’s actually quite moderate,” adding that the governor, an observant Jew, could speak to disaffected religious voters who years ago voted Democratic but now feel disconnected from the party – and may even be a stronger candidate than Harris.
“Shapiro creates a super interesting dynamic,” this person added.
A second Trump ally said that while they did not consider Shapiro a moderate, they saw his “really non-threatening” personality as having increased his credibility with independents and Republicans. This person added that Shapiro is “the one who does the most to help her.”
“He’s the obvious one,” this person added. “So if it’s not him, there’s a reason why it’s not him in my mind. Whether it’s checking or a personality conflict. He’s the one that jumps off the page like, ‘Why wouldn’t you choose this person?’”
Shapiro is among the few people Harris is vetting; he is considered a leading candidate, along with Cooper and Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. Shapiro left the door open to serving as his running mate, telling reporters on Monday that “she will make that decision when she is ready” when asked if she would accept the role if it were offered to her, adding that the choice is “deeply personal.” and that Harris should choose whoever she feels most comfortable with.
But the potential governor pick clearly caught the attention of the Trump campaign, which began exploring the possibility. On Wednesday, Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, tweeted: “ Reliable sources confirm, Kamala (@VP) will choose PA’s @GovernorShapiro.”
It’s a possibility the Trump campaign has been thinking about for some time. As remote as the chance of a Harris-Shapiro ticket was just a few weeks ago, it was enough to factor into Trump’s calculation in choosing Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, sources told NBC News .
“The possibility of Kamala choosing Josh Shapiro or another Midwestern Democratic governor as vice president only reinforces the logic behind the campaign’s selection of Vance as Trump’s running mate,” said a source close to the Trump campaign.
Trump highlighted that idea in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday. Asked whether Harris replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket made him reconsider hiring Vance, Trump said: “I would make the same choice. He’s doing very well. He got it.
However, a veteran of Republican campaigns in Pennsylvania envisioned a scenario in which the battleground state becomes ground zero for running mates.
“Gov. Shapiro would boost Democratic turnout in Philadelphia counties,” this person said, referring to the suburbs and suburbs surrounding the city. “If he is the nominee, I would expect JD Vance to live in western Pennsylvania, while Shapiro lives in Bucks and Chester counties as we get into the home stretch.”
Shapiro’s bipartisan brand in Pennsylvania goes back years. He ran ahead of Biden and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton when he was on the ballot with them and was elected state attorney general. In 2022, NBC News exit polls showed him winning 16% of Republicans in the governor’s race. AND a Philadelphia Inquirer/New York Times/Siena College a May poll that showed his statewide approval rating at 57% found that 42% of Pennsylvania Republicans approved of his job performance.
He’s broken with the Democrats supporting school vouchersspeaking out in support of school choice on Fox News. He strongly condemned the rise of anti-Semitism, Including in some pro-Palestine protests, while also condemning Islamophobia. He has won plaudits from Pennsylvania Republicans at all levels of government for his handling of the fallout from this month’s assassination attempt on Trump, which occurred in his state.
“He handled the Trump shooting very well. Like a statesman,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a Republican strategist who was a key adviser on Vivek Ramaswamy’s 2024 presidential campaign. “I’m not sure, though, that him defeating Mastriano in a landslide is really the electoral coup the Democrats are making it out to be. . Mastriano was not a good candidate and 2022 was a totally bad year for Rs.”
Republicans have plenty of reasons to criticize Shapiro — and that resistance is getting louder now that he’s running to be Harris’ running mate. The same day Biden announced he was leaving office, the Commonwealth Foundation, a conservative think tank in Pennsylvania, ran an ad in The Washington Post criticizing Shapiro for how many bills he was able to pass in a divided Legislature. (Last monththe think tank conducted a poll that found his approval rating in the state was 58%.)
Republicans who spoke to NBC News criticized Shapiro for failed to get Democrats to agree to his school voucher plan during his first budget negotiations after cutting deals with members of the Republican Party, appealing a decision that overturned Pennsylvania’s participation in an interstate greenhouse gas reduction program and its handling of sexual harassment complaints against a legislative aide.
“It has not been tested on a national level,” said Allegheny County Republican Party Chairman Sam DeMarco. “And it’s never really been tested here, even in Pennsylvania.”
“So a lot of people don’t think about these things,” he added. “But you can bet people would know them from fully funded opposition research. [effort] by the Trump campaign.”
Former Rep. Keith Rothfus, R-Pa., it hit Shapiro for his energy policies, his efforts to legalize recreational marijuana and his stance on abortion.
“I know there are many Republicans who will mistake Shapiro’s smile, his temperament and his beautiful wardrobe for something of a moderate,” he said.
Some of the reasons Republicans have praised Shapiro in the past or now see him as a potentially strong vice presidential candidate — whether it’s because of his appeal to moderate voters, his stance on school choice, the fact that he’s garnered support police unions or his stance on the Israel-Hamas war – led some on the left flank of the Democratic Party to speak out against his inclusion on the ticket.
Most prominently, Erin McClelland, the Democratic candidate for state treasurer in Pennsylvania, tweeted Tuesday that she wants “a vice presidential pick who is safe enough to come second to a woman, who is content to be vice president and will not undermine the president to maneuver his own election and will not sweep the sexual harassment under the rug.”
“I want someone who can speak to rural voters,” she said. “This is @RoyCooperNC.”
Traditionally, a running mate rarely makes a difference in presidential elections, as several Republicans said in discussions with NBC News. They said the election will ultimately be a win or a lose for Trump and Harris — and they jumped at the opportunity to go against the vice president, especially in Pennsylvania. A Republican working on Senate races said Harris “is as horrible a replacement for ‘Scranton Joe’ as could be.”
“For a state like Pennsylvania, man, I’d rather face Harris 10 times out of 10 than face Biden,” said state Rep. Josh Kail, chairman of the state House Republican campaign committee. “Biden had roots in Pennsylvania, Biden was seen as a blue-collar kind of guy.”
However, one bloc of voters for whom Shapiro could make a difference is the supporters of former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley in her bid for the Republican nomination – voters who may have been more inclined to vote for Biden than in Harris.
“[W]We’re in uncharted waters here,” said Brittany Martinez, a Republican strategist who supported Haley. “A more moderate vice president like her might be able to sway some of the voters who are on the fence.”
Martinez is not among them. Although she singled out Shapiro and Kelly as the top choices, she said, “I’ll be writing.”
What’s more, some Republicans began spreading the idea that Shapiro would actually turn down an offer from Harris, saying it could hurt his future presidential prospects. Pennsylvania State Representative Russ Diamond, a Republican, tweeted that Shapiro would be risking “his 20-year undefeated streak and a chance to be a relatively unscathed Dem running for prez in post-Trump 2028.”
“It’s no secret that he would love to be president someday,” Diamond said in an interview. “And going into this passage now, there are two paths: either she loses and he shares the blame for it. Or she wins, and then he’s locked up for potentially eight years… so it’s a dead end for him either way.”
But such appeals only serve to indirectly highlight the strength that the governor could bring to the ticket.
“If I’m a Republican, Shapiro is the one I’m most worried about,” said Tres Watson, a GOP political strategist and founder of Capitol Reins PR. “He may be moderate, he may also be liberal, but there’s the school choice issue — he kind of gets involved in some things that could kill Republican votes.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
