With Democratic politicians and now actor George Clooney, a major fundraiser, calling on President Joe Biden to drop out of the race, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s name has been mentioned as a viable presidential or vice presidential candidate.
And if the octogenarian president were to bow out, Vice President Kamala Harris would be next in line. Harris is slated to speak at an Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote Presidential Town Hall in Philadelphia on Saturday.
And if Harris moves to the top of the ticket, various wags have said Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, 51, as her vice-presidential running mate would enhance the Democrats’ chances of winning Pennsylvania, which is now trending toward Trump.
The latest Emerson poll has Trump at 46 percent and Biden at 43 percent nationwide and shows Trump at 47 percent to 45 percent for Biden in Pennsylvania. The 538, which averages polls, has Trump at 44.3 percent and Biden at 41 percent in the Keystone State as of July 11.
Biden released a letter on Tuesday saying he will stay in the race for reelection.
“This type of baseless speculation is just a distraction – and it is unhelpful to accomplishing what we need to do this November: defeat Donald Trump at the ballot box,” said Shapiro’s spokesman Manuel Bonder.
Shapiro, who grew up in Abington, has risen steadily through Pennsylvania political offices. He started as an assistant to former Montgomery County Congressman Joe Hoeffel (D-Montgomery), then successfully ran for state representative. After that, he served as chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, then served two terms as attorney general. Shapiro was elected governor in 2022.
Republican Bruce L. Castor Jr. served as a Montgomery County commissioner with Shapiro and praises him, although they had and have policy differences.
“Josh was a tremendous county commissioner,” said Castor. “A master at the organization, excellent at arriving at a consensus and one of the best administrators I have ever seen.”
“In fact, I used to tell people, I thought he was a better commissioner than me,” said Castor. One of Shapiro’s trademarks is being “well-prepared.”
Which is why Castor believes it’s unlikely that Shapiro would suddenly agree to run for president or vice president.
“It’s unlike the man I know to do anything without carefully planning,” said Castor. “And putting an organization together and having his ducks in a row.”
Shapiro planned his run for attorney general a year in advance “so this would be inconsistent with the man I know,” said Castor.
“I think the Democrats are playing with fire trying to swap out Biden this late in the game,” said political consultant Albert Eisenberg, principal with BlueStateRed. “The downside of Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket could be lower than sticking with the guy they’ve got, however enfeebled he obviously is. A hypothetical Harris-Shapiro ticket could be a strong one in Pennsylvania, theoretically, but with so many factors in play this late in the game, and voters gobsmacked by Biden’s performance and the Democrats’ covering for him, I don’t think there’s an easy path to winning or even a guaranteed way to stop the bleeding at this point.”
Guy Ciarrocchi, a political commentator who writes for Broad +Liberty, said, “It says a lot about today’s Democrat Party. The president is old and confused—and, now abandoned. They fear the vice president isn’t able to actually be president. So, they’re left considering the most unsuccessful governor in California’s history and Pennsylvania’s freshman governor who’s yet to actually achieve any policy goal.”
While Castor believes Shapiro is unlikely to jump into the race, he added, “There is the caveat to that. When the president asks you, it is very hard to say no. And having had that happen to me, I can attest to that, directly. So that would be the only thing that I think might tip the scale, if President Biden asked him to do it, otherwise I don’t see the carefully prepared, thoughtful man that I know, doing something so spontaneous.”
“He’s a thinker and a planner and he doesn’t go off half-cocked,” said Castor, who added he’s seen very few people like Shapiro in his 40 years in public life.
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