Pennsylvania’s Governor, Josh Shapiro, Cancels Fundraising Trip Amid VP Speculation, With Harris Expected To Announce Running Mate by Tuesday

UPDATED AT 5:47 P.M. EDTPennsylvania’s governor, Josh Shapiro, will not follow through with his plans to fundraise in the Hamptons this weekend amid speculation that he is on the short list to be Vice President Harris’s running mate. The vice president’s staff has been vetting candidates in recent days, including Mr. Shapiro. “The governor’s trip was planned several weeks ago and included several fundraisers for his own campaign committee,” the governor’s spokesman, Manuel Bonder, first told NBC News. “His schedule has changed and he is no longer traveling to the Hamptons this weekend.”Another candidate, Governor Beshear of Kentucky, has also cleared his schedule for the weekend. He had planned to speak at a distillery in western Kentucky on Friday, but canceled that appearance, a local outlet, KFVS12, reported.The hosts for the fundraisers across one of the country’s most exclusive enclaves were reportedly given different explanations for why Mr. Shapiro was no longer traveling to New York. One host, Michael Kempner, told the New York Times that he was informed by Mr. Shapiro’s team that the governor had family obligations, while another donor was told Mr. Shapiro had an official event in Pennsylvania he had to attend. The governor has been boosted as the ideal running mate for Ms. Harris, given his role as the incredibly popular chief executive of a must-win state. A recent poll from Fox News found that the governor had a 61 percent approval rating in his home state, and he has been praised effusively in the media by liberal spectators for his charisma and message-discipline on the stump. He would be just the second Jewish person on a major party ticket, which led one X user to dub him “Baruch Obama.”Some progressives have expressed their doubts, however. Mr. Shapiro pushed his state legislature to adopt a new school voucher program that was opposed by state teachers unions, and criticized anti-Israel protesters on college campuses in Pennsylvania. In April, he compared the protesters to members of the Ku Klux Klan. Responding to an article from the Hill detailing progressives’ frustrations with Mr. Shapiro, Congressman Jared Moskowitz, who is also Jewish, said on X that the criticisms of the governor were antisemitic. “These Progressives don’t want a Jew. Let’s say it out loud. Imagine if moderate Dems said they didn’t want a certain minority. The condemnations would be deafening. Yet now we hear much silence,” Mr. Moskowitz said. On Thursday, the president of the United Auto Workers, Shawn Fain, whose union endorsed Ms. Harris on Wednesday, said in an interview with the Detroit News that the selection of Mr. Shapiro as the vice presidential candidate would be “troubling” given his support for private school vouchers, though Mr. Fain insisted he would support Ms. Harris regardless of her decision. The vetting process for Ms. Harris’s potential running mates began in earnest several days ago, with a former U.S. attorney general, Eric Holder, leading the background checks. NBC News reported on Thursday that Ms. Harris’s staff had conducted interviews with six men on the short list, including Mr. Shapiro. The other candidates are Governor Walz of Minnesota, Governor Pritzker of Illinois, Senator Kelly, and the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg. The most liberal choice in the race seems to be Mr. Walz, a National Guard veteran whose policy accomplishments in Minnesota have made some liberals blush. Writer Mehdi Hassan endorsed Mr. Walz on Tuesday, writing about the governor’s record, including free school meals, protections for abortion rights, and clean energy investments, among others. Mr. Kelly had made an enemy out of labor during his nearly four-year tenure in the Senate by being the only Democrat to not sign on to the PRO Act, a bill that would have strengthened collective bargaining protections for unions. When it was reported that he was being vetted for vice president, though, he changed his tune and said he would vote for the bill if it were brought to the Senate floor today.

Pennsylvania’s Governor, Josh Shapiro, Cancels Fundraising Trip Amid VP Speculation, With Harris Expected To Announce Running Mate by Tuesday

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