Josh Shapiro: The popular Jewish father of four who could become the next vice president of the US

Josh Shapiro, a 51-year-old father of four, enjoys historically high approval ratings – including support from Republicans – but rumours of him becoming Kamala Harris’s running mate have drawn alarm from more progressive Democrats.

Mr Shapiro is a rising star in the Democratic Party and his popularity as governor of Pennsylvania is crucial for Ms Harris’s presidential run – the swing state’s 19 electoral votes make it a must-win. In 2020, it was the declaration of Pennsylvania that confirmed Joe Biden’s win over Donald Trump.

Mr Shapiro would add to the Democratic ticket’s historical significance too – he would be the country’s first Jewish vice president, while Ms Harris is seeking to become the first woman – and first Black and South Asian American woman – elected US president.

Obama’s progressive endorsement – and Israel controversy

In 2007, Mr Shapiro broke with much of the Democratic establishment to back a first-term senator from Illinois for president – Barack Obama.

After Mr Obama won the White House, the pair stayed in touch. During Mr Shapiro’s 2016 run for attorney general, Mr Obama took the unusual step of intervening with an endorsement, saying he “represents a new generation of progressive leadership”.

But it is Mr Shapiro’s strong support for Israel that could alienate some progressive voters.

Pro-Palestinian activists say they take particular issue with a recently resurfaced op-ed from Mr Shapiro’s undergraduate years at the University of Rochester in which he predicted that “peace will never come” to the Middle East and described Palestinians as “battle-minded.”

Mr Shapiro has since told reporters he no longer feels this way, stressing his young age at the time he wrote the piece.

“I was 20,” he said. “I have said for years, years before 7 October, that I favour a two-state solution – Israelis and Palestinians living peacefully side-by-side, being able to determine their own futures and their own destiny.”

He has since criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the bombardment of Gaza – he called him “a dangerous and destructive force” and “one of the worst leaders of all time”- but has insisted Israel has a right to self-defence.

Mr Shapiro has also drawn criticism for the way he responded to protests that have erupted on college campuses across the US about the war in Gaza. In April, speaking to CNN, he mentioned the Klu Klux Klan in the same breath as anti-war activists – saying “people dressed up in KKK outfits or KKK regalia” would not be tolerated on campuses, so antisemitism should be opposed, too.

But this approach could appeal to moderate voters and defang Republican efforts to turn the Israel-Hamas war into a wedge issue for Democrats.

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‘Startling reversal on climate issues’

Beyond this, environmental groups have criticised Mr Shapiro for switching from being tough on fracking to “courting” oil and gas companies – something he denies.

Since he became governor of Pennsylvania in 2023, he has “radically changed his environmental policy priorities and began to court fossil fuel companies,” Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania wrote, citing his “startling reversal on climate issues”.

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Addressing Ms Harris in an open letter this week, around 50 leaders of national progressive groups said: “With the compressed timeline ahead of us to defeat the Trump-Vance-MAGA threat, we simply cannot afford any setbacks.”

And while they said Mr Shapiro was a “valued member of the democratic coalition”, they added he “has made too many controversial policy decisions on issues such as school choice and the environment to be the consensus voice our nation needs right now”.

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Outside of politics, Mr Shapiro met his wife Lori in ninth grade. They dated in high school and reconnected after college before he proposed to her in Jerusalem. He and his family are practising Conservative Jews who keep kosher.

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