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By Kaitlin Lewis
Night Reporter
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A campaign that hopes to thwart Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's chances of being picked as Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate doubled down on Friday as speculation rises around the next Democratic vice presidential candidate.
Shapiro, elected as governor in 2022, is believed to be among the front-runners of Harris' shortlist of potential vice president selections. Talks around the governor's chances reached a high point on Friday after Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker released a video endorsing Shapiro to be the next Democratic vice president. Harris is expected to announce her choice by Tuesday.
But left-leaning campaign "No Genocide Josh" told Newsweek Friday night that it is continuing to push against Shapiro being selected as Harris' running mate. The grassroots movement has argued that Shapiro, who is Jewish, does not align with many Democratic voters' opinions on the war in Gaza.
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"Our goal is simple: to send a message to Vice President Harris and the Democratic Party that selecting Shapiro as VP would be the wrong choice, and would hinder our ability to beat Trump and his extremist MAGA agenda this November," the group sent to Newsweek via email.
"Shapiro does not support the values of the Democratic base," the statement continued. "He has supported sending $100 million of Pennsylvanians' taxpayer dollars to fund private school vouchers, has quietly settled a sexual harassment scandal against one of his own top aides, and was unique among the top VP picks in his willingness to deploy the National Guard on peaceful protestors. He even went as far as to compare peaceful university protestors to KKK ralliers."
"We believe he poses a unique risk to Democrats' momentum, energy, and unity when it is needed most," the group concluded.
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Newsweek sent requests for comment to Shapiro's office and Harris' campaign via email late Friday night.
Shapiro has been vocal about his support for Israel's right to self-defense since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7. Some of his policies have come under scrutiny by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, which may pose a problem to Harris' campaign if Shapiro gets chosen as her running mate.
On Friday, Shapiro's past remarks about Palestinians resurfaced in a report by The Philadelphia Inquirer, which quoted an opinion piece that he wrote in 1993 as a student at the University of Rochester: "Palestinians will not coexist peacefully. They do not have the capabilities to establish their own homeland and make it successful even with the aid of Israel and the United States. They are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own."
Shapiro's spokesperson, Manuel Bonder, told Newsweek on Friday that the governor's opinion has changed since he wrote the op-ed, which was published in his university's student paper when Shapiro was 21 years old. Bonder added that the governor now supports a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestinians.
Shapiro has also faced backlash after seemingly comparing anti-Israel protesters on college campuses to the Ku Klux Klan. In an April interview with CNN, Shapiro said that just as people would not tolerate "people dressed up in KKK outfits or KKK regalia," antisemitism shouldn't be tolerated on campuses either. In that same interview, Shapiro also condemned acts of Islamophobia.
Some Jewish members of Congress have dismissed the pressure from the "No Genocide Josh" campaign and other critics who assail Shapiro's support for Israel. Ohio Representative Greg Landsman told Axios on Friday that he thinks "there is that sense that somehow we're not objective [on Israel] because we're Jewish, which is just not true or fair."
"There are a lot of members who are pro-Israel who have been protested against—I think as Jews it feels particularly intense and personal," added Landman, a Democrat.
Representative Kathy Manning, a Democrat from North Carolina who is Jewish, told Axios in a statement that Shapiro has been a "highly successful governor" and that his opinions on Israel are "in line with the position of the Biden-Harris Administration."
"To judge him differently from any other potential VP candidate simply because he is Jewish is highly offensive and smacks of antisemitism," Manning added.
The nearly 10-month war in Gaza has been a sore spot for Democrats. Many progressive party members have pressured President Joe Biden's administration for supporting Israel's military response after Hamas' October 7 attack. According to Israel, 1,200 people were killed and another 251 were kidnapped. Palestinian health officials, as cited by the Associated Press, say that over 39,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel responded to the strikes.
Harris made her stance on the war clear roughly four days into her presidential campaign, telling reporters after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that she supports a permanent ceasefire.
"Israel has a right to defend itself, and how it does so matters," the vice president said.
Mark Shanahan, professor at the University of Surrey, told Newsweek in a previous interview that while Shapiro "balances the ticket" for Harris as a "white male" in a key battleground state, "his position on school vouchers which feels more Republican than Democrat, and his strong support for Israel's ... war in Gaza may cause disquiet, particularly among the progressive wing of the very broad Democrat tent."
"Harris needs an alliance of women, the young and minorities to win in November," Shanahan added. "Shapiro may not play quite so well with the young."
Update 08/02/24, 10:27 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and background.
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