It’s a chaos the likes of which we have rarely seen in American politics. On Sunday, President Joe Biden announced on X that he is dropping out of the 2024 Presidential race. The question for Democrats now is, do they throw open their upcoming convention to a primary of sorts and whoever wants to throw their hat in the ring does so, or do they anoint Vice President Kamala Harris as the heir apparent nominee? Should Harris become the nominee, there is also much speculation about who her running mate might be. It is that speculation that is revealing just how handcuffed to identity politics Democrats are.
CNN’s John King reports that Democrats are concerned that Pennsylvania Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro’s Jewish faith is a risk if he is on Kamala Harris’ ticket.
The antisemitism in the Democrat Party is WILD. pic.twitter.com/JiOb1RI5pT
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 22, 2024
One of the names thrown around is Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. At age 51, Shapiro is young and is described as a “moderate Democrat.” He is the former Attorney General of the Keystone State, and while in that office, he took on the opioid crisis by investigating pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors, something that should be a nonpartisan issue. But his biggest achievement was a grand jury report on child sex abuse and the subsequent coverup occurring in almost every Roman Catholic archdiocese in Pennsylvania.
On Sunday evening, following the bombshell announcement by Joe Biden, immediate talk of a possible Harris running mate began, CNN’s John King brought up a “risk” Democrats would have with Shapiro. That risk, he is Jewish. Fellow CNN host Anderson Cooper brought up the fact that Shapiro was “being discussed as one of Harris’ potential running mates.” King responded:
“Well, he’s certainly under consideration, I know that from key Harris allies. He’s a first term governor. He’s Jewish. There could be some risks in putting him on the ticket, but certainly some of our voters here in Pennsylvania said, ‘Hey, we like Governor Shapiro, give him a look.'”
Currently, RealClearPolitics betting averages have Donald Trump up over Kamala Harris by a commanding 59.7 to 30.5 points. Clearly, Democrats have concerns about a Jewish running mate for Harris playing well in the battleground state of Michigan, home to a large Arab-American population. Trump is up by 2.1 points in Michigan. Is this another example of just how wed to identity politics Democrats are?
The only VP pick for Kamala Harris that makes sense is Pete Buttigieg. He’s in the cabinet, he’s gay, he’s from the Midwest, and you don’t lose anything by picking him. No sitting governor in their right mind would give up running their state to join Kamala’s losing ticket
— Javon A. Price 🇺🇸 (@JavonAPrice) July 21, 2024
The fact that Kamala Harris is a stone’s throw from ascending to the presidency is the answer to the question of Democrats being held hostage by the identity politics they love so well. It was black voters in South Carolina in 2020 that helped Biden ultimately shore up the nomination that year, and payback for that support was the pick of Kamala Harris as vice president. When he took office, Biden promised a cabinet that “looked like America.” Shapiro, being the governor of a rust-belt state like Pennsylvania would surely deliver votes Democrats are lacking in that state. Trump is up by 4.5 points there, a substantial lead. But are Democrats willing to throw a possibly qualified Harris VP candidate under the bus because he is Jewish and pro-Israel, and it is the coveted Arab-American vote they are after?
It is that precarious identity politics highwire act Democrats have entrenched themselves in. Besides Harris, Joe Biden’s lone pick for the Supreme Court was promised to only be a black woman. That resulted in the nomination and confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and the exclusion of consideration of any other qualified candidates. Jackson later famously said she could not answer the question, what is a woman?
If Shapiro is picked to be Kamala Harris’s VP, it would be the first time a Jewish candidate was on a national ticket since Joe Lieberman was Al Gore’s running mate in 2000. But with Michigan in play, Democrats may just be scared out of taking a “risk” like Josh Shapiro.
Latest odds on who Kamala Harris will pick for her VP pic.twitter.com/PIeBg1tUvj
— Dan Leach (@DanLeachDTM) July 21, 2024
