Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro explaining details of the Interstate 95 highway collapse to U.S. President Joe Biden in June 2023. White House Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

State Rep. Mike Schlossberg has mixed feelings about U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris bypassing Gov. Josh Shapiro in favor of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate in the 2024 presidential campaign.

On the one hand, the Democrat from Allentown, Penn., told JNS he is a huge fan and supporter of Shapiro, and was “absolutely disappointed” that he was not picked. However, Schlossberg believes that Walz will make an “excellent” vice president since he is “smart, can speak to a wide coalition of voters and is a very effective communicator.”

Schlossberg says that Walz had a strong track record of supporting Israel during his time in Congress and that “should provide Jewish voters with some comfort.”

Rabbi Ariana Capptauber of Beth El Temple in Pennsylvania’s state capital of Harrisburg told JNS that “while we were excited about a potential Jewish presence in the White House, we here in the Harrisburg Jewish community are glad to have the Shapiro family staying with us awhile longer. They have been a wonderful presence in the community, and Gov. Shapiro has been a great leader for our state.”

For his part, Shapiro made it clear that he would continue to support Harris and that he sees his work in Pennsylvania as far from finished. Noting the traditional Jewish teaching that “my faith teaches me that no one is required to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain from it,” Shapiro said he wants to leave the commonwealth and country “better off for our children.”

“I’m excited to continue working to protect and advance real freedom, deliver good schools, safe communities and economic opportunity,” he wrote in a statement. “Vice President Kamala Harris has my enthusiastic support—and I know that Gov. Tim Waltz is an exceptionally strong addition to the ticket who will help Kamala move our country forward.”

Today’s Democratic Party?

Some say that the decision not to pick Shapiro comes amid discontent from far-left and “progressive” Democrats who sought to keep an unabashedly pro-Israel, generally pro-school choice, Jewish day-school graduate and candidate off of the national ticket.

Blackballed?

“The left knocked off Joe Lieberman in a primary [in 2004] and now, they did it to Josh Shapiro,” Ari Fleischer, who served as White House press secretary under President George W. Bush, told JNS. “I hope Jewish Americans recognize the Democratic Party is not the home for strong supporters of Israel. It’s time for the community to recognize the power in the Democratic Party rests with its anti-Israel progressive base.”

He added that “Josh Shapiro is a proud Zionist. He doesn’t fit today’s Democratic Party.”

Others mentioned the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip after its operatives murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands and kidnapped as many as 250 men, women and children after infiltrating the Jewish state’s southern border on Oct. 7.

“Kamala rejected Josh Shapiro for one reason and one reason only—he was a normal American Jew who supports Israel,” tweeted Ellie Cohanim, a former U.S. deputy envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism. “Voting for Kamala Harris means voting for the pro-Hamas, anti-American radicals in this country.”

“I view the Midwest as the most electorally critical presence.”

Similarly, Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, issued a statement saying: “This isn’t the Democratic Party of your parents or grandparents. Let’s be clear: If elected, the Harris-Walz ticket would be, by far, the most left-wing president and vice president in U.S. history. Of particular concern for the American Jewish community is Gov. Walz’s embrace of the most vicious anti-Israel and anti-Semitic member of Congress, Ilhan Omar. Walz has endorsed and supported this notorious ‘Squad’ member for years, championing her as a ‘progressive leader’ in Congress.”

One of those progressives cheering the announcement of a Harris-Walz ticket is Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is often critical of Israel and recently touted Walz’s liberal bona fides.

Political Pawns

“He is a former public school teacher, football coach and strong union supporter,” Sanders wrote on X. “As governor, he delivered for working families in MN. As VP, he will deliver for working families of the U.S.”

Also cheering the choice of Walz over Shapiro is the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project, which sees Harris’s pick as a political victory. It released a statement co-signed by a number of other anti-Israel groups, including Americans for Justice in Palestine Action, the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Muslim Civic Coalition and the U.S. Campaign for Palestinians Rights Action.

“For 10 months, millions of Americans have protested and organized against our government’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Today was another sign of our collective power,” the group wrote on social media. “Together, we can move the Democratic Party away from militarism and impunity for Israel’s war crimes and toward peace, justice and equality for all people, including the Palestinian people. Kamala Harris has taken a step in the right direction, but there is more to do.”

In the political scales of elections, in picking Walz as her running mate Harris may risk efforts to keep Pennsylvania blue while shoring up another base of support.

Unlike Minnesota, which has voted Democrat in every presidential election in recent memory—the last time the state went red was in 1972—Pennsylvania’s electoral delegates remain far from a sure thing. The state voted Republican in 2016, helping to ensure Donald Trump’s presidential win, before turning blue in 2020.

Michigan is also at play this year since its population has the highest number of Arab-Americans in the United States, many of whom support the Palestinians and have been pushing for a ceasefire for months, even though that would effectively help Hamas stay in power.

“He can speak to voters, especially rural, working-class voters.”

Risks, Benefits

Harris may have decided that Shapiro was more of a risk than a benefit, as University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato, a political analyst known for his Crystal Ball predictions, wrote on X: “Yes, Gov. Josh Shapiro could have brought a bigger payoff (19 electoral votes) but Gov. Tim Walz fills the age-old bill for VP nominees: First, do no harm.”

According to J. Miles Coleman, associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, “It may have just boiled down to the fact that if Harris wins, whoever she picks she is going to have to spend the next four years with, and she could have just synced up better on a personal level with Walz than Shapiro. But from a purely electoral college point, the case for Shapiro was very compelling.”

Can Be Counted On

Also of concern, he said, was the fact that the United Auto Workers Union was not behind a Harris-Shapiro ticket. “I view the Midwest as the most electorally critical presence, and if the Democrats don’t have the unions firing on all cylinders for them, that could make the difference in some of these states,” such as Michigan and Wisconsin, Coleman shared.

Additionally, he told JNS, there is “an anti-Semitic strain on the progressive left” and to “some degree” Shapiro’s past and present support for Israel may hurt his chances.

Larry Ceisler, a public affairs executive in Pennsylvania and founder of Ceisler Media & Issue Advocacy, said the choice for the vice-presidential nominee likely came down to polling and research.

“Pennsylvania is a must-win state, so my assumption is that the feeling is Vice President Harris could win Pennsylvania even if Josh Shapiro was not on the ticket,” he told JNS, noting they were most likely comfortable knowing that the Pennsylvania governor would still be heavily involved in the campaign and acting as a surrogate in the commonwealth.

If research had shown they would lose Pennsylvania without Shapiro, continued Ceisler, “I can’t believe they would not have picked him.”

Schlossberg also believes that Walz is a good pick, saying “he can speak to voters, especially rural, working-class voters.” Besides, he added, Harris knows what she’s doing from the “broad standpoint.”