They Had to Ask

Pennsylvania Governor, Josh Shapiro

There has been a lot of buzz over the last few days about Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. It centers on a revelation in his soon-to-be-published book about how he was vetted for the position of Kamala Harris’s running mate in the last presidential election. A vetting that treated him differently than any of the other candidates being considered for that position. Because he is Jewish.

He was asked by a Harris staff member whether he had ever been an double-agent of the Israeli government. Shapiro responded that he was offended by the question, to which the retort was, ‘Well, we have to ask.’

I’m pretty sure Governor Tim Walz wasn’t asked if he was a double-agent for any foreign country. They obviously didn’t ‘have to ask’ him. It was widely reported at the time that Shapiro’s interview did not go well, and that Harris chose someone without the ‘Jewish baggage’ that Shapiro supposedly carried.

This does not mean that Harris herself is antisemitic. If she were, she would never have married a Jew—even a secular one. But it does mean  that she clearly feared losing the support of the pro-Palestinian crowd that was accusing Israel of genocide and chanting ‘Palestine from the river to the sea,’ many of whom were openly antisemitic. She did not want a running mate who was in any way supportive of Israel. Being Jewish was therefore seen as a liability from the start.

Although Shapiro is a Democrat who has been critical of Israel’s current leadership, he has nevertheless been a longtime supporter of Israel. He was not going to be cowed by protesters whose longstanding animus toward Israel predated Israel’s military response to October 7^th. (Interestingly, he was joined in this by fellow Pennsylvania Democrat, Senator John Fetterman, whose support for Israel has been even stronger - despite the fact that he isn’t Jewish.

Shapiro’s Judaism was apparently ‘poison’ to Harris, who wanted someone not in any way associated with the Jewish state. So even if Harris was not personally antisemitic, her campaign might as well have been. She may as well have hung a sign outside her VP-vetting office saying, ‘Jews need not apply.’

Be that as it may, things went badly for Harris. She lost the election by a much wider margin than expected. Some political pundits believe that had she chosen the better-known and very popular governor of Pennsylvania, she might have flipped that state and possibly won the election. I don’t know whether that would have been enough. But choosing a far less known governor from a state she would have won anyway clearly did not help her.

It appears that Shapiro is now laying the groundwork for a run for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.... 

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