2024 has been a year for Gov. Josh Shapiro, from his star-studded role as a vice presidential contender to his campaign appearances as a prominent Democratic surrogate and staunch supporter of Israel. As the year ends, his national profile continues to grow, this time with a focus on how he uses his faith to connect with voters.
Shapiro has long made his Jewish faith a tenet of his public identity, and now as President Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic, cedes the White House to President-elect Donald Trump, who promotes Bibles under his own brand, the New York Times names Shapiro as part of a miniature but prominent group of Bible-quoting, religiously practicing Democratic politicians.” As the Los Angeles Times reports, many of them “are poised to attract national attention within the next four years.”
Shapiro, Sen. Raphael Warnock (R-Ga.) and Texas state Rep. James Talarico are among the fresh leaders of the Democratic Party who have not shied away from talking publicly about their religion in an attempt to connect with voters across spiritual lines even as the party has gained a reputation for becoming increasingly secular. .
“It’s important for the community to understand, wherever you are, what motivates you,” Shapiro told The Times. “It’s important that people know this before you start talking to them about bills, policies and proposals.”
AND Pew Study released in April using data from 1994 to 2023 found that among registered voters who are atheist, agnostic or otherwise unaffiliated with a religious group, 70% leaned Democratic.
Meanwhile, 59% of Protestants and 52% of Catholics leaned toward the Republican Party, while 69% of Jews and 66% of Muslims leaned Democratic — although the numbers for Muslims were lower than for the other groups.
But when the survey broke down racial and ethnic groups, the picture changed, with 84% of black Protestants and 60% of Latino Catholics leaning Democratic. according to Pew. The majority of both parties voted for Vice President Kamala Harris, but for Trump, in this year’s elections made profits among black and Latino voters.
While Trump is not known for being versed in Christian theology, he has described himself as a defender of Christian ideology. Trump, who identified himself as a nondenominational Christian, talked about how he came close to death when he survived an assassination attempt on religious grounds, as did his supporters.
Trump has also proven effective by presenting himself as original as the Democratic Party considers how to better connect with voters.
Shapiro’s faith-related positions have put him in the spotlight of heated political debates.
Although Shapiro was a acute critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he became known as a staunch supporter of Israel who sometimes made brazen comments about protesters whom he considered anti-Semitic. This attitude was seen as a weakness by some and a strength by others when Harris was considered for vice president.
After the raids ended, his religion remained in the spotlight. Republicans, including Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, tried to link Harris’ decision to choose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate to what they called anti-Semitism in the Democratic Party.
Shapiro appeared to criticize these theories as he took the stage at Temple University’s Liacouras Center during a rally that debuted Walz as the Democratic vice presidential candidate in August.
In the closing moments of a raucous speech that drew thunderous applause from the crowd at the North Broad Street arena, Shapiro celebrated his faith and its intersection with public service, quoting Pirkei Avot, an historic text of Jewish ethics: “No one is required to perform a task; but we also cannot refrain from it,” he said.
“I just want to say this,” Shapiro said. “I lean on my family and I lean on my faith that calls me to serve, and I am proud of my faith.”
Rabbi David Glanzberg-Krainin, rabbi of Beth Sholom in Montgomery County – the synagogue in Shapiro’s hometown – told The Inquirer in August that the moment showed he was “not going to back down from saying that this is something that is a fundamental part of who he is.” and how he approaches public service.
Glanzberg-Krainin also rejected Vance’s view that Shapiro being Jewish was a factor in his rejection as Harris’ running mate.
“I absolutely cannot fathom a universe in which, you know, Vice President Harris, the wife of a Jewish man, chose not to choose Josh Shapiro as her running mate because Josh is Jewish… there is simply no world in which I could conceive a child she thinks.” “It is possible,” he said.
As Shapiro continued to accept being Jewish, the fixation on his identity also increased. After the popular governor delivered a primetime speech at the Democratic National Convention in delayed August, Trump, in a tirade on Truth Social, called him a “highly overrated Jewish governor” who has “done nothing for Israel.”
In this regard, Shapiro said that Trump was “obsessed” with him and that the then-GOP candidate was perpetuating “anti-Semitic tropes.”
Even though Shapiro’s faith sometimes becomes a political football, Glanzberg-Krainin said in August that he suspected the governor would continue to look for ways to combine his religion and his calling for public service.
“I think as the years go by, he takes it really seriously,” Glanzberg-Krainin said. “Where could he best serve? And it’s not something purely rational. I think he feels it on a deep level.
Shapiro has already taken his faith-based connections beyond Pennsylvania, including teaming up with Warnock, a Democratic senator from Georgia who also ties his faith to his public identity.
Shapiro visited the Warnock church in October and “immediately identified himself as a fellow believer,” the Los Angeles Times reported, telling worshipers “Shabat shalom,” a greeting that practicing Jews operate on Shabbat.
Warnock and Shapiro are rising party leaders seen as potential future presidential candidates. The two men campaigned together for Harris, and Shapiro told the Los Angeles Times that they discussed strengthening “fractured ties between the Jewish and black communities.”
