PITTSBURGH — Gov. Josh Shapiro declined to answer questions Monday about whether he was interested in working with Kamala Harris as her vice president, calling it a “deeply personal decision … that should be made really without any political pressure.”
President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he was dropping out of his re-election campaign and endorsed Harris to become the Democratic presidential nominee in 2024. Harris’ campaign said Monday that it had raised $81 million in the first 24 hours of her candidacy.
Shapiro has been mentioned, along with several other Democratic governors — all of whom have already endorsed Harris for president — as a possible vice presidential candidate. But Shapiro is the frontrunner in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, which has 19 electoral votes up for grabs and has been deemed a must-win state by both Democrats and Republicans.
“President Biden endorsed Vice President Harris yesterday, as did I and many across the country, not only because of how honorably she has served in the past, but also because she is absolutely ready to be president and be a standard-bearer for our party,” Shapiro said Monday.
Shapiro spoke at a conference for Castle Builders Supply and Trucking, a concrete products supplier on Neville Island, where he and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan announced $396 million in federal funding Grant for reducing climate pollution (CPRG) program for the state to reduce industrial pollution. Grants are funded by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
“Last Wednesday, I had the honor of being in south-central Pennsylvania announcing the largest federal grant for a single transportation project in Pennsylvania history, the I-83 South Bridge, right here in Harrisburg,” Shapiro said. “Today, I’m here in western Pennsylvania, less than a week later, to announce the second-largest federal grant in Pennsylvania history, thanks to the Biden Harris Administration and their faith in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Shapiro was asked what he and Harris discussed when they spoke Sunday. “The conversations I had with the vice president were about one thing: How do we defeat Donald Trump? How do we protect our freedoms and how do we make sure that Pennsylvania — which was the epicenter of the creation of our democracy 248 years ago and will be the epicenter of our politics today — how do we make sure that Pennsylvania elects Kamala Harris as our next president?”
Pressed by reporters for an answer, Shapiro continued to decline to say whether he would take the job if asked, saying he did not want to engage in hypotheticals. But during his appearances, he delivered what sounded like the beginning of a campaign speech, praising Harris, a former prosecutor, and criticizing former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate.
“We both stood up for the rule of law and we’ve always stood up for people — that’s diametrically opposed to everything Donald Trump stood for,” Shapiro said. “And I’ll tell you what I like about our chances of getting a prosecutor against a guy who’s a convicted felon 43 times.”
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
