PITTSBURGH — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro did not deny Monday that he has spoken to Vice President Kamala Harris about serving as her running mate if she secures the Democratic presidential nomination. Nor did he say he would turn down the role if she offered it to him.
Shapiro said Harris now has an “important decision” to make, which is “who she’s going to run with, who her running mate should be.”
“It is a decision she has to make: who she wants to govern with, who she wants to campaign with and who can stand by her,” he said, calling it a “very personal decision”.
“She will make that decision when she is ready,” he added. “And I have all the confidence in the world that she will make that decision, along with many others, in the best interest of the American people.”
Shapiro spoke at a news conference to announce that the Environmental Protection Agency has provided nearly $400 million in grants to the region, but was peppered with questions about Harris’ possible vice presidential role.
When asked by NBC News whether he and Harris had discussed the possibility of him becoming her running mate during a conversation on Sunday, Shapiro said the two leaders had discussed how to win in November.
“Our conversation was about how we defeated Donald Trump and protecting our freedoms here in this Commonwealth,” Shapiro said.
When pressed again, Shapiro repeated his answer.
“We just talked about defeating Donald Trump and our shared commitment to that,” he said in response to a question from NBC News. “I immediately gave her my support and said I would do everything in my power to support her here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Since Biden announced Sunday that he is withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race, Harris’s most likely competitors — including prominent governors such as Shapiro, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Roy Cooper of North Carolina — have all said they would support her as Biden’s presidential nominee.
Shapiro repeatedly praised Harris during the question-and-answer session with reporters, saying he has known the vice president for about two decades. Both previously served as attorneys general in their states.
“We’ve both been prosecutors, we’ve both been advocates for the rule of law,” he said. “And we’ve both always been advocates for the people. That’s antithetical to everything Donald Trump has stood for.”
Shapiro was asked more than half a dozen times about her role as running mate and about the conversations the two had had.
“I’m focused on my work here in the state of Pennsylvania,” he said, adding that he was “focused on three letters every day: GSD. We were focused on doing s—.”
NBC News asked Shapiro what he would say to Americans who are uncomfortable with Biden’s exit from the race — a departure that came after he had already secured enough Democratic delegates to secure the party’s presidential nomination. Shapiro pointed to Biden’s statement of support, saying the president “knows she has what it takes to be president.”
“She’s prepared for this and she’s ready,” he said. “And I’m proud to stand with her as our dozens of Democratic elected officials, as well as Democrats, Republicans and independents that I’ve spoken to in the community who are passionate about this, who understand the very serious threat that Donald Trump poses to our fundamental freedoms, who understand the very serious risks that our democracy faces if Donald Trump gets the keys to the White House again.”
“These people I’ve talked to want to win,” he added. “And they believe Kamala Harris is our best chance to win. And I believe that, which is why I endorsed her yesterday right after the president.”
Shapiro is seen as a front-runner by Democrats and Republicans to serve as Harris’ running mate. He won a landslide victory over Sen. Doug Mastriano, a Republican, in 2022, outperforming Biden and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton when they ran on the same ticket. Recently, members of both parties have praised Shapiro for his handling of the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Trump, which took place in his state.
Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato, who also spoke at Monday’s news conference, told NBC News that she thinks Shapiro would make an excellent vice president and that the only “con is that he wouldn’t be our governor.” She added that his experience winning Pennsylvania elections by large margins would be immensely helpful.
“He really understands all the different levels of government,” she said. “He started in the statehouse, he served as a county commissioner, attorney general and now as our governor. So having that perspective of all the levels of government to think about how you move money and [programs] a reality for the people on the floor, so that they can actually be transformative. That’s a unique experience that he has that I think would really suit him to be a great vice president.”