Supporters of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Tuesday they were disappointed he wasn’t picked as Kamala Harris’ running mate — but said they’re happy to see him staying in the commonwealth.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will be the Democratic vice presidential nominee, ending weeks of speculation about a rapid-fire selection process that began as soon as President Joe Biden stepped aside and endorsed his vice president as the nominee July 21.
Several Lehigh Valley area Democrats had pushed hard for Shapiro to be Harris’ running mate, and expressed varying levels of disappointment that he was passed up.
“On a personal level, sure, the first reflex was absolutely one of disappointment,” said state Rep. Mike Schlossberg, who had spoken publicly and on social media in support of Shapiro. “Josh Shapiro would have been an excellent vice president … but on a selfish level, we get to keep him.”
“We were rooting for Shapiro, our audience was rooting for Shapiro, we have been talking about him for the last couple of weekends,” said Victor Martinez, an Allentown Spanish-language radio host. “The sentiment from the audience was they wanted him, they liked him, they believed he’d been a good governor.”
In a statement Tuesday morning, Shapiro said he looked forward to continuing to serve Pennsylvania as governor — his term ends in 2027.
“The running mate decision was a deeply personal decision for the vice president — and it was also a deeply personal decision for me,” Shapiro said.
According to the statement, Shapiro was approached two weeks ago by Harris’ campaign to be vetted as a possible VP pick.
Walz is a two-term Minnesota governor who also spent 10 years as a Minnesota congressman before leading the state.
He spent 20 years as a social studies teacher and football coach before running for Congress in Minnesota’s 1st District, a rural, Republican-leaning area, in 2006. He won reelection five times before his election as Minnesota’s governor in 2018. He was reelected in 2022.
As governor, he has taken credit for several major reforms to Minnesota law, including requiring paid time off for workers, legalizing recreational marijuana, codifying the right to abortion in the state constitution and providing universal free lunches in public schools.
Walz is relatively unknown in Pennsylvania, while Shapiro, on the other hand, was boosted by Pennsylvania supporters because of his high local approval rating.
Fifty-seven percent of Pennsylvanians approve of Shapiro’s record as governor, according to a May Siena College poll, and he defeated GOP candidate Doug Mastriano in the 2022 gubernatorial election by a wide, 15-point margin.
Shapiro, a native of Montgomery County, was first elected to state office in 2004, when he ran for state House representing Montgomery County. He served in that seat for four two-year terms before winning election to the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, and then running for attorney general in 2016.
But Shapiro had been under scrutiny from some progressive Democrats and education advocates. In particular, his support of Israel and outspoken statements against pro-Palestinian college protestors drew some ire.
Some education advocates also criticized his support for school vouchers, which routes public education funding to private schools in underperforming districts.
“Shapiro was considered the [vice president] front-runner for so long,” Schlossberg said. “When you’re at this level, people are going to criticize and pick apart your record, that’s certainly what it is, and what happened.”
Regardless, Shapiro supporters locally said they are glad to see him stay in Harrisburg.
“We get to keep him, we get to have him as the governor for the next four, the next eight years, and it is what it is,” Martinez said.
John Kincaid, an American politics professor at Lafayette College, said he thought Walz’s straight-talking and down-to-earth demeanor may have played a role in why Harris chose him over Shapiro. Before he became Harris’ running mate, he gained national attention for describing Republican candidates as “weird” and strange in national TV interviews; a line of attack that caught on and has been repeated by many Democratic advocates.
“Walz will probably play pretty well [in Pennsylvania],” Kincaid said. “He has kind of a folksy populist approach, which is partly why I think Harris picked him.”
Tina Henninger, chair of the Carbon County Democratic Party, said Walz’s rural roots — he was raised in rural Nebraska and is an avid hunter — could resonate with voters in the rural, majority white county just north of the Lehigh Valley.
“He is as likely to be interviewed in a flannel jacket out in the woods as he is in a business suit,” Henninger said. “He’s comfortable being in both of those worlds, growing up in an economic depressed area with not as many opportunities. He has empathy for people in rural areas like ours, and he understands what we need to make things successful.”
Republicans, on the other hand, have already described Walz as a far-left candidate who is out of step with moderate, swing state voters. Glenn Geissenger, chair of the Northampton County Republican Party, said the local GOP is relieved that Harris passed up Shapiro, who he thought would have made Pennsylvania more competitive for Democrats.
“This is an appeal to the left of the ticket, it’s not going to help them in Pennsylvania, certainly not in the Lehigh Valley,” Geissenger said.
Harris officially accepted the Democratic nomination for president Monday after a virtual roll call of Democratic delegates.
She is expected to make her first public appearance with her new running mate on Tuesday evening in Philadelphia, before embarking on a swing state tour with stops in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Georgia.
Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.
