We’ve speculated on why the Kamala Harris campaign didn’t pick Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate. Shapiro would seem to be the smart political choice if they wanted to appeal to the center and if they wanted to improve their chances in Pennsylvania, a state that they absolutely must have to have any chance.
This, Harris’ first big decision, seems to be an incredibly bad one, in picking Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who has a ton of baggage, which reminds everyone of how far left both he and Harris are. Reality about that baggage is now likely to start sinking in and kill what was left of her “honeymoon pass.”
If there was any logic to it, it’s that being left and selecting far left trumps everything else. The leftists were pushing for Walz and dinging Shapiro. The Democrats likely already had Minnesota, and Walz isn’t exceedingly popular there, so the choice wouldn’t do any more to bring you the state.
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Now, there’s more information shedding some light on why it might not have worked out with Shapiro following his interview with Harris.
His style was seen by at least some in Harris’ world as showboating. One senior Democrat in touch with Harris’ team called it “counterproductive.”
And there was a sense within Shapiro’s team that, unlike Walz, his interview with Harris did not go as well as it could have. There was “not a great feeling” coming out of it, according to a person in touch with his advisers.
After their meeting on Sunday, Shapiro called Harris’ team and made clear that he was “struggling with the decision to leave his current job as governor of Pennsylvania, in order to seek the vice presidency,” according to a person familiar with the selection process.
It could be that Shapiro’s trying to spin it to make it not look bad for himself — that it was his choice.
Or perhaps he found he couldn’t stand her in that interview. That would be perfectly understandable, given all we have seen of her over the last three-plus years.
Another is that Shapiro realized he shouldn’t hook his wagon at this early part of his entry onto the national stage to a failed Kamala Harris. If he is, in fact, rejecting her, that’s not a great look for her. If he did drop out after all this, one has to think he thinks she’s going to lose.
This way, he got national attention, but he’s not attached to whatever failure/loss may come if he wants to run in 2028. It’s pretty clear he has greater ambitions. Given all we’ve heard about what a horrible boss Kamala is, who could blame him? It’s probably the wise political choice for himself.
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If this was supposed to help her look not antisemitic, I don’t think it does that either. It still makes it all look like a mess.
Hardly an auspicious start. But it’s Kamala, so it’s likely to get worse.
