Jewish Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro would not have given Vice President Kamala Harris “a decisive advantage” to win the Keystone State in November, Harris campaign polling showed, according to the New York Times.
The report appears to justify Harris’s decision to select Minnasota Gov. Tim Walz, a far-left Democrat from a blue state, as her running mate, instead of picking pro-Israel Shapiro, a swing state politician who Republicans appeared to fear the most as Harris’s potential choice.“THANK YOU!” former President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social Tuesday morning after Harris announced she chose Walz.
Seven states — Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina — will decide who the president will be, political pundits believe. If Trump wins one or more of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, Harris’s chances of obtaining 270 electoral votes become narrower. Some believe whoever wins Pennsylvania wins the election.
Political convention suggests that Shapiro, as the governor of Pennsylvania, would have dramatically helped Harris win the Keystone State, but according to Harris campaign polling, that assumption is wrong.
“Polls had been conducted. Focus groups had been commissioned. Records reviewed. And the upshot, Ms. Harris was told, was this: She could win the White House with any of the three finalists by her side,” the Times reported Tuesday:
For Ms. Harris, it was an instinctive reaction to an instant connection rather than a data-driven exercise that many had expected would elevate Mr. Shapiro, the popular governor of Pennsylvania, the nation’s most important battleground state. But her team’s polling did not suggest that either Mr. Shapiro or Mr. Kelly would bring a decisive advantage to their crucial home states.
After Harris announced Walz as her running mate, many political insiders indicated the pick was a mistake, a blunder, a self-inflicted error.
“I think that clearly was a major factor, is that she was reluctant to put a vice presidential nominee on the ticket with Jewish heritage because they’re having a split in the Democratic Party,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday. “They have a pro-Palestinian, in some cases pro-Hamas wing of the Democratic Party.”
“Sadly for Josh Shapiro, because of his heritage, I think that is the reason he was overlooked,” Johnson added.
Adding credence to Johnson’s opinion, Harris apparently chose Walz for personality reasons, not for strategic considerations. “He’s just so open,” Harris said after her meeting with Walz over the weekend, one person with knowledge of her comments told the Times. “I really like him.”
“She wanted someone who understood the role, someone she had a connection with and someone who brought contrast to the ticket,” added Cedric Richmond, a former White House adviser who was part of Harris’s selection team.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
