When Philadelphia’s Democratic Party endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, it tacked on Gov. Josh Shapiro as her vice president. That’s a decision you should let her make.
ABOVE PHOTO: This composite left to right, shows North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, June 28, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C., Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., June 4, 2024, in Washington, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, July 20, 2024, in Pittsburgh, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear in Frankfort, Ky., July 22, 2024. (AP Photo)
By Denise Clay-Murray
To say that electoral politics have been interesting over the last few weeks would be an understatement, especially on the national level.
After weeks of depressing his poll numbers by talking about a bad debate performance and denying his cognitive abilities, President Joe Biden was finally bullied off of the Democratic ticket last Sunday. If you’re wondering why the late President Harry S. Truman said that if you want a friend in Washington, buy a dog, you saw it on all sides with the way Biden was treated leading up to Sunday.
We can talk later in the campaign season about the soul-searching that needs to be done within the Democratic Party due to the original goal of the Biden Bullies, which was to get Vice President Kamala Harris off of the ticket. That goal fell way short because now Harris is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, but hey…
(Biden to Bullies: I’ve got your cognitive decline…RIGHT HERE!)
But now, I’d like to talk about the press release that the folks from the Democratic City Committee here in Philadelphia sent out as part of their endorsement for Harris. As part of that endorsement, chair Bob Brady endorsed a ticket comprised of the Vice President and…Gov. Josh Shapiro.
I mean no disrespect here, but I think that Brady and the rest of the Democratic City Committee need to stop trying to make a decision for Vice President Harris that she should be allowed to make for herself.
Besides, when you’re used to working for a guy who has your back so much that he’ll give up his dream job to make sure you get your opportunity, working for someone who would never do that for you in a million years is a definite step down.
Shapiro is part of a group of folks that have been bandied about as either presidential candidates that could leap over Harris or as VP candidates for Harris from around the country. Some of the folks on that list — most notably Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and California Gov. Gavin Newsome — let everyone know early in the game that they were interested in neither. Others like Maryland’s Wes Moore didn’t get a lot of traction to begin with.
Shapiro, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly seem to be the front runners, although I wouldn’t count out U.S. Transportation Pete Buttigeig or Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
But so far, the only person that folks are doing a full-court press on is Shapiro. Now, you have a segment of the population that thinks he should be the obvious choice. Pennsylvania is a battleground state. He knows the state. He could be an asset…as long as you’re not in a room filled with public school teachers or supporters of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.
Shapiro’s support of school vouchers has made the teachers unions you’re going to need to win the state’s 19 Electoral College votes more than a little mad. As for the Krasner partisans, when you sign off on a law designed to take the DA’s power away because he’s not sending enough people to prisons upstate, that’s a problem.
When you add his promise to sign a bill punishing colleges or universities that divest from Israel to protest their treatment of the Palestinians in the Gaza — because the goal doesn’t appear to be getting rid of Hamas or getting the hostages back anymore, it appears to be genocide — and you get a problem the first Black and South Asian woman to run for president doesn’t need.
Now I get why making Shapiro vice president might seem like a good idea. If he becomes VP, Pennsylvania gets its first Black governor when Lt. Gov. Austin Davis takes over. In theory, Pennsylvania gets a friend in a very high place to replace the one that steps down in 2024.
And if we’re honest, Sen. Sharif Street, the chair of Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party, gets rid of someone who tried to take his job.
But, I’m not sure what it does for Harris. And until the Democratic City Committee can point out where she, and by extension the country, benefit from having Gov. Shapiro on the ticket, I think it’s best that he stays here…and you all stop trying to pressure her.
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, The Philadelphia Sunday SUN, the author’s organization, committee or other group or individual.
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