Will Harris choose Shapiro? Pa. Gov. reacts to speculation

With Vice President Kamala Harris now the leading candidate to succeed President Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, many are speculating about who she will choose as her running mate in the 2024 presidential race.

Harris, who arrived at Biden’s campaign headquarters in Delaware on Monday, hasn’t hinted on who she will choose. Experts have still named potential picks however, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Shapiro was asked about the speculation while he spoke at an event in Pittsburgh on Monday.

“I’m not going to engage in hypotheticals,” Shapiro said. “This is a deeply personal decision that the Vice President will make. She will make it on her own timetable and her own timeline. She needs to choose someone that she’s prepared to govern with. Campaign with. And someone that she feels most comfortable with and that decision should be made free of any sort of political pressure.”

Shapiro went on to add that he’s currently focused on doing his job in Pennsylvania.

Gov. Shapiro’s political career

Shapiro, 51, is halfway through his second year as Pennsylvania's governor after easily winning his last election by trouncing a far-right, Trump-endorsed candidate.

Shapiro has also been a surrogate for Biden, backing the president in appearances on cable networks, and has years of experience making Trump the focus of his attacks, first as state attorney general and now as governor.

He has won three statewide races — two as attorney general, one as governor — with a tightly scripted, disciplined campaign style, offering voters something of a lower-key alternative to the state’s brash political star, Sen. John Fetterman.

As governor, Shapiro has begun to shed a buttoned-down public demeanor and become more confident and plain-spoken. In one recent MSNBC appearance, he said Trump should “quit whining” and stop “sh— talking America.”

Shapiro, who is Jewish, has aggressively confronted what he viewed as antisemitism cropping up from pro-Palestinian demonstrations and has professed solidarity with Israel in its drive to eliminate Hamas.

He is a staunch proponent of abortion rights in Pennsylvania and routinely promotes his victories in court against Trump, including beating back challenges to the 2020 election results.

He also has positioned himself as a moderate on energy issues in the nation’s No. 2 natural gas state and plays up the need for bipartisanship in the politically divided state government.

Vice President Harris made her first public remarks since President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, endorsing her in his place. “I am first-hand witness that every day, our president, Joe Biden, fights for the American people and we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation.”

Shapiro’s ties to Pennsylvania

While Shapiro was born in Kansas City, Missouri, he has deep ties to Pennsylvania, particularly Montgomery County. He grew up in Upper Dublin Township, Pennsylvania, and currently lives in Abington Township.

Montgomery County residents spoke with NBC10 about the possibility of someone from their area becoming a Vice Presidential nominee.

“As much as I do like Josh Shapiro, and I think he will be a presidential candidate someday, I don’t know if everybody knows as much about him as we do, quite frankly,” Ed Friedland of Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania, told NBC10.

Regardless of whether Harris ultimately chooses Shapiro, Michelle Gill, of Upper Dublin's Dresher community, says she’s proud that someone from her town has accomplished so much already in the political arena.

“It’s pretty cool,” she said. “We have a very vibrant area in Upper Dublin and Dresher itself, with a lot of history. So knowing that someone with such civic mindedness came from this area I think it feels really good.”